Democracy or Autocracy

Democracy or Autocracy

One has to wonder how two small northwestern Ontario communities,
Ignace and Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation, with a population of less than
2,000 people, can decide the future of Northern and Northwestern Ontario
concerning the proposed Nuclear Waste Repository chosen site at Revel
Lake at the centre of a highly seismic area (refer to Canada earthquake
map).

AECL’s publication “An Evaluation of Potential Effects of Seismic Events
on a Used-Fuel Disposal Vault, July 1995, Y. Ates, D. Bruneau, W.R.
Ridgeway”, concluded:

• Damage to underground openings cannot be avoided if the underground
  opening is intersected by a fault on which a significant earthquake
  occurs. Therefore, potentially active faults should be avoided when
  siting a disposal vault.

• Major regional fault zones should be avoided when siting a disposal
  vault. The large areas of the Canadian Shield should enable this,
  considering the small area (about 4 km2) needed for a disposal vault.

The region encompassing all of Northwestern Ontario has three significant
seismic faults.

1. Lake St Joseph fault on the south shore of Lake St Joseph trending
    east west

2. The Miniss Lake fault line which intersects the Lake St Joseph fault
     trending north to south towards Sioux Lookout.

3. Lac Seul active fault in and by the Lac Seul old post. A fault that was
    not known to Canadian geologists until the Earthquake of 1984

It rattled and shook Sioux Lookout at approximately 02:10 to 02:15 AM.
There was significant damage to some basements, cracked walls and
doorframes and snow shaking off roofs. Many people thought there had
been a plane crash nearby or a large explosion. The Nuclear Waste
Management Organization has failed to do a proper site assessment at
Revel Lake. If a proper site assessment had been made Revel Lake would

have been ruled out as an appropriate site for the deep geological
repository.

• The Nuclear Waste Management Organization approach and
  methodology for the burial of the most toxic man-made poison is
  completely flawed by the NWMO’s Learn More program. This corrupted
  the process of the selection site by paying huge amounts of money to
  many groups and organizations including First Nations.

• Where is the accountability when the nuclear industry and the NWMO
  have failed to account to the public, dollar for dollar, of the money spent
  for persuasion of a yes vote from the public to move this project forward.
  The NWMO refuses to be accountable and protects the cost of the
  money handed out.

• The transportation by truck or rail for 1650 KM is by any normal
  standards insane. The amount of truck accidents on our highways is
  clear evidence of the NWMO’s failure to understand the disruption that
  would occur to vital transportation of goods and services that are
  essential. A railway derailment would have an even greater impact on
  transporting of goods and services across the nation. Closure times of
  roads and railways would not be measured in days but in weeks if not
  longer to restore traffic flow. The environmental cost would be
  catastrophic. The NWMO in their haste to promote a flawed process in
  the transportation of nuclear waste have yet to explain the response to a
  major accident by road or rail. Any transportation method used would
  be subject to Murphys Law. The answer is rolling stewardship.

• Any method used or built to store this toxic waste must be retrievable so
  that the option to reuse the waste is left open so that we do not get into
  a continuous cycle of reproducing nuclear waste and having to store it.
  The means to reuse is at hand with AI and human ingenuity that will
  solve this problem within twenty years.

• The cost of this DGR proposed 10 years ago was 16 billion dollars and
  has now risen to 24 billion dollars and the unknown total cost will likely
  rise well over 50 billion dollars. Public dollars not well spent.

• The social aspect of the project has not been addressed. Constant fear
  of nuclear accidents.

• Ostracization of all small communities surrounding the DGR in
  Northwestern Ontario, damaging tourism, inability to recruit health care
  professionals and attracting professional tradespeople into our area will
  be compromised.

• Generational trauma for thousands of years.

• Contamination of water and land into the Winnipeg River System and
  Nelson River into the Hudson Bay is a certainty over time. Man has
  never built anything that can withstand the force of nature. We live on a
  dynamic planet, change is constant.

• The Deep Geological Repository concept is an unproven technology with
  no guarantee that radiological contamination will occur.

• The NWMO has used “BS” and “BS” (bad science and bovine scat) to
  convince Northern and Northwestern Ontario for the burial of the most
  man-made toxic waste at the Revel Lake site.

Submitted by
Remi Lorteau
Caretaker
NOCANDU
Northern Ontario Coalition Against Nuclear Dumping Underground