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The Nuclear Waste Administration Group has all the time had the safety of individuals and the surroundings as its prime precedence and we had been alarmed to see a column within the Toronto Solar earlier this week suggesting that transporting used nuclear gas can be harmful, secretive and performed with out session. Nothing could possibly be farther from the reality.
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In truth, security is the very function of the NWMO’s existence. Our job is to maneuver Canada’s used nuclear gas to a deep geological repository — a everlasting storage facility roughly 700 metres underground, the place the used gas will stay protected in a multi-barrier system enclosed in rock that has been disconnected from floor water for hundreds of thousands of years.
Over the very long run, that could be a safer strategy than leaving the used nuclear gas the place it’s now — in short-term storage above floor.
Transportation of used nuclear gas to the deep geological repository gained’t start till the 2040s and can take as much as 50 years to finish. This is not going to be the primary time radioactive supplies are transported in Canada. Removed from it.
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Canadian transportation rules for radioactive supplies have been in existence for greater than 60 years and roughly a million packages of nuclear supplies are already transported in Canada yearly. They transfer by land, air, and sea — beneath strict rules that guarantee they’re secure.
Different nations have shipped 20,000 shipments of used nuclear gas worldwide over almost 60 years by street, rail and water. There have been zero critical accidents, well being results or environmental penalties because of a launch of radioactivity.
In Canada, the Canadian Nuclear Security Fee regulates the transport of used nuclear gas by way of a collection of security and safety necessities overlaying the complete journey of a cargo, from the time it’s initially packaged to its arrival on the last vacation spot. Rules specify bundle design and security necessities. The packages should show the power to face up to extreme accident situations and forestall the discharge of radioactive materials into the surroundings beneath these situations.
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These excessive checks are much more extreme than accident eventualities seen in actual life and embrace a drop check, puncture check, hearth check and water immersion check.
The NWMO welcomes criticism and is all the time open to addressing considerations and answering questions from any group or particular person and we’re dedicated to collaborating with and doubtlessly affected people and communities.
We’ve got talked to 1000’s of Canadians about transportation at city halls, open homes, working group conferences, and technical excursions of our Discovery and Demonstration Centre in Oakville, Ontario. We speak about it in media articles, columns, and letters to editors, in addition to at our Study Extra Centres within the communities that would host the deep geological repository. We additionally share our transportation paperwork on our web site, together with our Preliminary Transportation Plan and Planning Framework, which commits the NWMO to have interaction with the general public on transportation over the subsequent 20 years. We additionally publish an annual rolling abstract since 2014 overlaying the continuing conversations we’ve had with the general public on this necessary subject.
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We perceive folks have visceral reactions to the thought of used nuclear supplies and that’s precisely why we work as arduous as we do to have interaction as many individuals as attainable all through this course of.
This isn’t a undertaking anybody takes calmly. Shifting our used nuclear gas to everlasting storage is a large duty, one that may make sure the waste we create shouldn’t be left as a burden for future generations to handle and, by way of each step of the method, we’ll guarantee folks and the surroundings stay secure.
— Caitlin Burley is director of Strategic Packages and Transportation for Nuclear Waste Administration Group.
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