Editor’s note: The following is an open letter to South Bruce council.
To council,
I talked to Deputy Mayor Mike McDonagh from the Municipality of South Bruce at the end of October about the nuke dump (deep geological repository, or DGR). He asked me, “If they give you $4 million dollars would you not take it?”
Not me!
What would I get in return? High-level nuclear waste, poisonous for hundreds of thousands of years.
I started to think about this and crunched some numbers. If you look at the $4 million figure provided by McDonagh and divide this by 100,000 years that the waste is poisonous (this is too short of a timeline) divided by the number of South Bruce residents, the calculation comes out below $0.01 – yes, less than one cent per resident, per year for 100,000 years.
The money is used by NWMO (Nuclear Waste Management Organization) for short-term thinking for a long-term problem. I believe the risk of pollution is high. The repackaging plant with hot cells and a DGR is not operating anywhere in the world for high-level nuclear waste.
There is nothing in place by the NWMO to heal the community’s deep divisions. No guidebook or program on how the NWMO will heal the deep wounds.
The deep divisions in South Bruce only benefit the NWMO. Two dogs are fighting for a bone; the two groups battling each other in South Bruce. The third dog, the NWMO, runs away with the bone! The two parties battling are distracted and NWMO gets rewarded with the site.
There are no rules to this NWMO game!
What is the definition of willing?
Compelling, informed and willing host? The word “compelling” disappeared in NWMO’s adaptive plan – the NWMO has no accountability. I believe their goal is to create deep divisions in our community.
South Bruce council, you have a whole circus show going on for the residents of South Bruce. And who is paying the price from these shows? South Bruce residents!
Who really benefits from this NWMO circus? The NWMO.
Yet council, you do not seem to see this.
A binding referendum is the only democratic way for the residents of South Bruce to decide on the DGR.
Our risk, our choice!
Rita Groen
Teeswater
