December 17, 1997

 

Deep River Disposal Project really looks dead, this time!

 

Many of you will have heard that the Port Hope waste will not becoming to AECL-Chalk River. There has been some national coverage, including a story on the CBC Radio-1 10:00 PM news (December 17) which featured local MP Hec Clouthier (Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke) and former Deep River mayor Lyall Smith. Deep River had until last month been negotiating with the federal Department of Natural Resources Canada for a compensation package in return for "accepting" a waste site at AECL. The plan faced steadily growing opposition from local residents (organized by our group, Concerned Citizens of Renfrew County and Area) and elected municipal officials. The concept of permanent radioactive waste disposal in fractured, seismically-active, water-saturated bedrock less than 300 meters from the Ottawa River was, understandably, not popular with downstream communities on either side of the river. There was also considerable resentment about Deep River's claim to compensation, as it is upstream of the site that had been proposed.

 

Hec Clouthier and Robert Bertrand (Pontiac-Gatineau-Labelle) attended the Tuesday, December 16 meeting of a committee of mayors and reeves from Pontiac and Renfrew Counties opposed to the "Deep River Disposal Project". Clouthier indicated that Cabinet had decided to support the option of above-ground, monitored storage in the Port Hope area (we think the model will be the US Department of Energy "engineered mound" facility in Lewiston, New York). He further indicated that a similar storage facility might be built at Chalk River to deal with some existing waste problems there.

 

Committee chair Mayor Denzil Spence (Allumette Island East, Quebec) and CCRCA President Lynn Jones welcomed the news of the cancellation of the disposal project. Frankly, we were all taken by surprise by this sudden turn of events. We will be waiting for official confirmation and details of the next steps planned for the clean-ups in Port Hope and Chalk River.

 

Mayor Spence and the top elected officials in Renfrew and Pontiac Counties had recently sent Natural Resources Minister Ralph Goodale a letter accompanied by 25 official resolutions opposing the project, passed by both county governments and numerous Quebec and Ontario municipalities. We expect that Minister Goodale may provide some details in response to this letter.

 

Now that permanent disposal of low-level radioactive waste appears to be on hold for a while, we can turn our attention to other radioactive waste matters, such as the proposed shipment of raffinate to Saskatchewan, and, of course, the forthcoming report of the environmental assessment Review Panel on AECL's high-level waste concept.

 

Ole Hendrickson

CCRC Researcher