Comment
The Ontario government should recognize public expectations for public safety, including putting in place measures to protect the public in the event of a Fukushima-scale accident.
Ontario should commit meet or exceed international best practices for nuclear emergency response planning and preparedness wherever feasible.
Post Fukushima the Ontario government must be ready to protect Ontarians in the event of a worst-case nuclear accident on the Great Lakes.
Ontario should match the best practice set by Switzerland and put in place emergency plans to protect the public in the event of an a level 7 accident on the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES).
Switzerland is preparing plans for large-scale evacuations and the need to care for evacuees for long periods of time. Ontario should too.
Ontario should be able to protect drinking water supplies in the event of a nuclear accident at any of the twenty-five reactors that line the Great Lakes.
Ontario’s nuclear emergency response plan should be reviewed regularly and transparently.
• The government should publish modelling on the
impacts of a Fukushima-scale accident before it
provides final approval for its plan to continue
operating Pickering in 2018.
• The government should develop the capacity to
independently model nuclear accidents in order to
ensure the ongoing adequacy of offsite plans.
Emergency plans need to be adapted to meet the special needs of vulnerable communities, such as the elderly or hospital patients.
Planning for major accidents means Ontario needs to expand emergency planning areas. Ontario should expand its evacuation zones to at least 20 km around each nuclear station to match real-world experience and the best practices set by other countries, such as Switzerland.
The government should require provincial and
municipal authorities to inform residents and
businesses in the 50 km Secondary Zone of the
availability of potassium iodide and the desirability
of including it in their home or institutional
emergency kit.
• The government needs to require those
authorities to conduct detailed planning to ensure
that evacuation can effectively be carried out in
the full newly proposed contingency planning zone
as well as into the secondary zone, especially for
vulnerable communities.
The government should study and publish
modelling of drinking water source contamination
in the areas around the Bruce, Darlington and
Pickering nuclear plants in the event of a major
accident, examine appropriate response
measures, and develop a plan to ensure that
contingency drinking water supplies will be
available in the case of such an accident.
• The government should use its drinking water
protection jurisdiction to ensure that the Great
Lakes and other sources of water are protected by
requiring contingency plans including
contaminated water storage and isolation.
The government needs to study and propose
guidelines for land recovery and return before
2018, when the Pickering Nuclear Generating
Station is due for another federal safety licensing
review.
The government should ensure all meetings and
consultations with industry on nuclear emergency
matters can be scrutinized by the public.
• A revised nuclear emergency plan should make
public consultation and pro-active disclosure
mandatory on a rigorous and regular schedule,
with updated information including population
density and land use.
I call on the provincial government to ensure nuclear emergency response plans are in
place to:
• Protect people from Fukushima-scale accidents;
• Protect vulnerable communities;
• Protect drinking water;
• Ensure transparency and public participation;
• Meet or exceed international best practices.
The Ontario government recently committed to run eighteen aging reactors at the Darlington,
Bruce and Pickering stations well beyond their original operational lives. Ten of these aging
reactors are in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) – creating risks for millions of nearby residents.
Aging reactors in the United States at the Fermi, Davis-Besse, Perry, Ginna, Fitzpatrick and Nine
Mile Point nuclear stations also put Ontarians and our drinking water at risk.
In light of these risks, the Ontario government should protect public safety and prevent
needless risks to health and society by making Ontario’s nuclear emergency plans the most
robust in the world.
TO PROTECT PEOPLE THE ONTARIO GOVERNMENT SHOULD:
• Use a Fukushima-scale radioactive release as the baseline “reference accident” for
determining offsite protective measures, such as alerts, evacuation, and potassium iodide
(KI) pre-distribution.1
• Regularly publish modelling on Fukushima-scale accidents at the Bruce, Pickering,
Darlington nuclear stations to confirm the adequacy of offsite emergency response.
• Expand emergency planning areas to align with the impacts of Fukushima, including at least
a 20 km evacuation zone.
• Ensure all municipalities within 100 km of a nuclear station, including American reactors,
develop and maintain nuclear emergency response plans.
TO PROTECT VULNERABLE COMMUNITIES, ONTARIO’S NUCLEAR EMERGENCY
PLANS SHOULD:
• Identify vulnerable groups, such as people with disabilities, babies, children, pregnant
women, people residing in retirement homes, and hospital patients who may need to be
evacuated in the event of a Fukushima-scale accident.
• Require clear plans to assist vulnerable groups before and after evacuation, including
support from health care practitioners.
• Acknowledge that operating reactors in densely populated areas like the Greater Toronto
Area (GTA) will complicate emergency response in the event of a major reactor accident and
require detailed plans for large-scale evacuation in the short-term and the accommodation
of large populations in the long-term.
• At a minimum, pre-stock potassium iodide (KI) pills in all schools within 100 km of all nuclear
stations in or near Ontario.
TO PROTECT DRINKING WATER, ONTARIO’S NUCLEAR EMERGENCY PLANS SHOULD:
• Provide alternative sources of drinking water for residents whose drinking water is sourced
from any of the Great Lakes on which a nuclear power plant is located.
• Ensure alternative drinking water sources are identified, and that logistical plans to supply
the impacted population with these alternative sources are in place to last indefinitely.
• Model and publish Fukushima-scale accidents at nuclear stations on the Canadian and
American sides of the Great Lakes to assess impacts on drinking water supplies and
aquatic ecosystems.
TO PREVENT COMPLACENCY AND ENABLE PUBLIC PARTICIPATION,
THE ONTARIO GOVERNMENT SHOULD:
• Apply the government’s Open Government policy to nuclear emergency planning and
require detailed government information on nuclear emergency planning be available by
default, including accident modelling.
• Require regular five-year reviews and detailed consultations with the public and affected
communities as to continuous improvement of both the planning basis and emergency
response measures.
JURISDICTIONS AND REFLECTING THE EXTREMELY HIGH POPULATION DENSITY IN THE
VICINITY OF 10 OF THE OPERATING REACTORS IN THE GREATER TORONTO AREA, THE
GOVERNMENT SHOULD:
• Require nuclear emergency response measures meet or exceed international best practices.
• Regularly review and publicly report on international developments and best practices in
offsite nuclear emergency planning as well as on plans to adjust and improve Ontario’s plan
to meet or exceed the best practices in other OECD jurisdictions.
[Original Comment ID: 210224]
Submitted February 13, 2018 4:01 PM
Comment on
PNERP master plan update
ERO number
013-0560
Comment ID
2366
Commenting on behalf of
Comment status