Photo courtesy École d'été citoyenne
Citizens groups and a first nation community are gathering Saturday to discuss the ongoing battle against the proposed disposal site for low-level radioactive waste to be built in Chalk River.
Members of the Kebaowek First Nation will join groups such as the Concerned Citizens group from Renfrew County at the Tetreau Community Centre in Gatineau for a panel discussion on the NSDF and a water ceremony starting at 11am.
Noemi Lebrun, Coordinator of Citizen School, a project launched by students at the University of Quebec in the Outaouais, will join the gathering to show support for the Kebaowek First Nation community.
Lebrun and others claim the environmental impact wasn’t properly considered before the permit was issued for the NSDF.
Lebrun says they’ll be learning more on Saturday about where things stand with the project and their opposition to it.
In May, Canadian Nuclear Laboratories lost its appeal of a federal court ruling, which said that Environment and Climate Change Canada erred in granting a permit for the proposed radioactive waste diposal site.
Justin Roy, a Councillor for the Kebaowek First Nation, says that means that ECCC must now reassess whether Canadian Nuclear Laboratories considered all reasonable alternatives in site selection and chose the best solution that would reduce the impact on species at the site.
For it’s part, CNL has always maintained that the NSDF’S engineered containment mound includes base and cover systems that will fully contain the waste.
It says Queen’s University tested the synthetic geomembrane and concludes it will stay intact for more than a thousand years – much longer than the time it will take for the radioactivity to decay to a safe level.
CNL also says the site near the river was chosen because it met all the criteria for size, low flood risk, protection of species and because the close proximity to the main campus will allow safe monitoring and operation of the facility.
(Written by: Cindy Clyne)
