Concerned Citizens of Renfrew County and Area

P.O. Box 981, Pembroke, Ontario K8A 7M5

Tel. : (613) 735-4876 Fax: (613) 735-6444

 

August 30, 1999

 

Mr. Les Scott, Mayor

Pembroke City Hall

P.O. Box 277

1 Pembroke Street East

Pembroke, Ontario K8A 6X3

 

Dear Mayor Scott:

 

I am writing to you about SRB Technologies (Canada) Inc., the tritium light factory at 320 Boundary Road in Pembroke.

 

CCRC has been concerned about tritium emissions from this company since it opened in 1991. In April of this year a story in the Globe and Mail drew national attention to the fact that in 1997 (the most recent year for which data were available), SRB emitted more tritium into the surrounding environment than the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station.

 

Tritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen. In a 1994 report to the Ontario Minister of Environment and Energy, the Advisory Committee on Environmental Standards said the following about tritium:

 

Tritium is classified as a human carcinogen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. There is no safe exposure level for any form of ionizing radiation. Low doses of radiation are known to cause genetic damage in living cells. Where reproductive cells are affected by radiation, mutations may occur and adverse effects may manifest in offspring. Exposure to radiation may also result in the development of cancer. A cancer may occur at any dose of ionizing radiation.

 

SRB's tritium emissions have steadily increased in recent years, from 197 trillion Becquerels in 1994 to 970 trillion Becquerels in 1997 (a Becquerel is an measure of the radioactivity of a substance, corresponding to one atomic transformation or disintegration per second).

 

It is reasonable to expect that the environment in the vicinity of the plant would be contaminated as a result of the ongoing emissions from SRB. The Atomic Energy Control Board has been trying for several years, without success, to get SRB to finalize and implement an acceptable environmental monitoring program. CCRC has been requesting such a monitoring program since 1991. Unwilling to wait any longer, our group has collected some vegetation samples and paid for them to be analyzed by two independent laboratories. The results show a high level of contamination immediately adjacent to the plant, and approximately 800 meters downwind.

 

Experts differ as to how much tritium is safe to discharge into a populated environment. Based on the observation that there is no safe level of exposure to radiation, we side with the experts who suggest tritium emissions should be reduced to zero. These experts include the International Joint Commission on great Lakes Water Quality and Dr. Rosalie Bertell, President of the International Institute of Concern for Public Health.

 

It is possible for SRB Technologies (Canada) Inc. to continue operations in Pembroke while reducing tritium emissions to near zero, using a pollution control device called a "molecular sieve catalytic oxidizer/dryer". We have written to SRB General Manager Stephane Levesque to request that SRB immediately install such a device. Your copy of this letter is enclosed.

 

We have also contacted the Atomic Energy Control Board requesting that pollution control be addressed at the upcoming relicensing hearing for SRB in December if the company does not voluntarily install pollution control equipment before then. A copy of this letter is also enclosed.

 

We ask that you support us in our efforts to have pollution control equipment installed. We would be pleased to meet with you to provide any additional information that you may require.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

 

Lynn Jones

President, Concerned Citizens of Renfrew County and Area

 

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