Pembroke, March 29, 1999
Members of the environmental group Concerned Citizens of Renfrew County (CCRC) met with Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke M.P. Hec Clouthier today to present him with a petition against "test-burning" of plutonium from U.S. nuclear weapons. The petition, which has been signed by over 2000 area residents, calls on the Government of Canada to abstain from the test-burning of plutonium. The test burn is scheduled to take place at the Chalk River Laboratories of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited in the near future.
"People were lining up to sign this petition", said CCRC member Kelly O'Grady. "It is clear that the people of the upper Ottawa Valley do not want the test burn to go ahead." Ms. O'Grady also points out that there is widespread opposition in Ontario and the U.S. to the transportation of plutonium to Chalk River for the test burn.
The petition highlights the fact that there is an alternative to burning
the plutonium. The U.S. Department of Energy is considering disposal of
the plutonium by immobilizing it in large glass blocks weighing several
tonnes. This alternative would not require transporting the plutonium and
would not make Canada a dumping ground for the high-level radioactive waste
that would result from burning the plutonium in CANDU reactors.