Concerns about transportation

I am writing to state my concern for the Nuclear Waste Management Organization’s proposed deep geological repository for nuclear fuel waste.

I am a long-time resident of Thunder Bay, and grew up in Kincardine, Ontario, near the Bruce nuclear plant. As a child, I visited the nuclear facilities, learned much about how they worked, and was informed at that time that the question of how nuclear waste should be treated and protected was far from settled. Now, thirty years later, it seems little progress has been made. It's difficult to believe that nuclear waste has been generated all that time without a solution in sight. 

My biggest concern at this time is around transportation: that waste will be transported long distances by rail or highway, through both populated areas and important environmental reserves. Transportation will be through the Great Lakes watershed: more than 40 million people rely on the Great Lakes for their drinking water. Transportation may be through national parks and provincial parks, including the Lake Superior National Marine Conservation Area. In Northwestern Ontario, we are, sadly, accustomed to a high rate of collisions on our highways (a search for recent "highway" news on TBNewsWatch: https://www.tbnewswatch.com/search?q=highway&Order=date&AuthorName=&BylineId=&DateStart=&DateEnd=). 

Long-distance transportation is not currently included in this project review, and I believe that it must be in order to adequately assess the risks to all people in Ontario and all people drinking Great Lakes water. 

Thank you for considering these brief comments,

Sara Janes
Thunder Bay, Ontario