The Government of Ontario…

   The Government of Ontario should recognize that the public expects to be protected from nuclear disasters. This includes measures that would be needed to respond to an accident like the one that happened in Fukushima, Japan in 2011.

  Ontario should commit to meeting or exceeding international best practices for nuclear emergency response planning and preparedness wherever feasible.

  In view of the Fukushima disaster, the Ontario government must be ready to protect Ontarians if a worst-case nuclear accident were to occur 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, and Ontario should too.

  Ontario should be able to protect drinking-water supplies in the event of a nuclear accident at any of the 25 reactors that line the Great Lakes.

  Ontario's nuclear emergency response plan should be reviewed regularly and transparently.

  Emergency plans need to be adapted to meet the special needs of vulnerable communities, such as the elderly and hospital patients.

  Planning for major accidents means Ontario needs to expand emergency planning areas.  Ontario should expand its evacuation zones to at least 20 kilometres around each nuclear station to match real-world experience and the best practices set by other countries.

  Thank you for your attention and consideration.

[Original Comment ID: 210212]