To the editor,
The Nuclear Waste Management Organization’s (NWMO) proposed deep geological repository (DGR) will bring much change to our community should it be approved. Centralizing and disposing of all of Canada’s most toxic nuclear waste is no small matter. And the fact that it will be processed and buried in deep mine shafts just 30 km from the Great Lakes should be of great concern to all of us, not to mention the millions of people who rely on the lakes for their drinking water. But they are outside of South Bruce and, at this time, they have no say in the matter. They have yet to be surveyed by the NWMO as to how they wish to express their willingness. And should this DGR proceed, I can guarantee you we will hear the uproar.
But as small a risk as it is made out to be by the NWMO, the risk is still there. And it is ours to take… should we decide to be a “willing host” to this experiment. And an experiment it is, in spite of what the NWMO has been telling us for the last 10 years.
The science is proven, they say.
Blah, blah, blah!
We follow international standards of best practices and we will use multiple barrier protections.
Blah,blah blah!
And just look at the enormous economic benefits it will bring to this poor community. Money will flow like milk and honey.
Blah, blah blah!
But not only is it a risk, but one that will exist for thousands of years. Buried, out of sight, out of mind below ground. It is a risk that will be our legacy, our children’s legacy and their children’s as well. And there will be, without a doubt, outside concern of those who travel through South Bruce as we become stigmatized as Canada’s nuclear waste playground.
Is it the legacy we want to leave?
Is it the risk we want to take?
But above all, and every bit as important a question… do we even get a chance to have a vote in the matter?
Some folks say no, way too soon to allow such a choice. A vote in 2022 won’t fit in with the NWMO’s timetable. Give it more time.
Time for what, more “blah, blah, blah”?
If you, as a resident of South Bruce, happen to have someone at your door asking you if you want to have a choice in this issue, consider signing the petition now circulating to hold a referendum in 2022. And please ignore the hyperbole of some who write in this paper that this is being carried out as “a door-to-door pressure tactic by a group of anti-nuke radicals.” As one of those canvassers who may come knocking, I can tell you this is not true. All we are asking for is our democratic right to vote on this matter and as one who has been asking to do so for close to 10 years now, I take great offence in those accusations made in this and other papers. They may resort to shooting the messenger but the message will get out.
“Our risk! Our choice!”
David Wood
Mildmay
