The government of Ontario…

The government of Ontario has an obligation to show international leadership in nuclear emergency preparation and planning. Greenpeace’s Nuclear Report Card has given failing marks to the Ontario government in Drinking Water Protection and Land Recovery and Evacuee Return. These critical issues must be addressed to meet or exceed international best practices as the government develops its nuclear emergency plans. The Ministry has acknowledged it doesn’t have the independent capacity to model major accidents, critical to developing any reasonably effective nuclear emergency plan. The capacity to independently model nuclear accidents must be developed in order to ensure the ongoing adequacy of offsite plans. It is urgent that the government publish modelling on the impacts of a Fukushima-scale accident before it provides final approval for its plan to continue operating Pickering in 2018. Government commitments to assess the impact of a large-scale nuclear disaster on drinking water have not been fulfilled. A Fukushima-scale accident will lead to significant contamination of the Great Lakes, but Ontario has no plans or strategies on how to address this. Ontario’s nuclear power stations are located in some of the most densely populated areas of the country, and along vital sources of drinking water throughout the Great Lakes watershed. 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. Constituents within evacuation zones and in areas that will receive evacuees need to know how they will be affected by a disaster. In its evaluation of Canada’s regulatory framework, the Convention on Nuclear Safety criticized the lack of land recovery guidelines in Canadian nuclear emergency response plans. Finally, the current public consultation is occurring under a cloud from the refusal to respond to Freedom of Information requests related to nuclear safety issues over the past six years since Fukushima, and closed-door meetings with the nuclear industry. If Ontario has any hope of a future with safe nuclear power, the public must have the opportunity for fully informed participation in the discussion. The risks are too great to treat a nuclear safety plan as a frill. The government should 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: 210610]