The Ontario government…

The Ontario government should implement measures to protect the public in case of a Fukushima-scale accident. These measures should meet or exceed international best practices for nuclear emergency response planning and preparedness.

Ontario must 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. And given the large number of aging nuclear reactors on both the Canadian and US sides of the border, the Ontario government must be ready to protect the public in the event of a worst-case nuclear accident in the Great Lakes area. Emergency plans must include measures that will meet the special needs of vulnerable communities, such as the elderly and hospital patients.

Specifically, Ontario should match the best practices set by Switzerland and put in place emergency plans to protect the public in the event of 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 do the same.

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.

Ontario’s nuclear emergency response plan should be reviewed regularly in consultation with qualified public-sector experts and the public.

Thank you for this opportunity to comment.

July 28, 2017

[Original Comment ID: 210665]