#Algonquins say proposed #NuclearWaste site near #OttawaRiver prioritizes money over safety

By Tom Fennario, Oct 18, 2024

"Verna Polson steps out of the boat and onto the sand bar of Pointe aux Baptêmes. She walks a few feet before turning back towards the water, where the August morning light shimmers off the waves.

"There she makes a tobacco offering to the Ottawa River. Except for her, this waterway that divides modern-day Quebec and Ontario is known by its original Algonquin name: Kichi-Sìbì.

"The Great River.

"'Kichi-Sìbì is a place where our ancestors used to travel. That was their highway,' explains Polson. 'This is how they kept the land, protected from many different nations.

"Polson grew up near the Kichi-Sìbì in #TemiskamingFirstNation, about 300 kilometers north of here. On this day, she finds herself downstream to take in not only the beach of #PointeAuxBaptêmes but also the industrial smokestacks of the #ChalkRiverLaboratories. It sits less than a kilometre upstream from where Polson offered her tobacco- the site sticks out in contrast to the rolling hills and blue waters of the Kichi-Sìbì.

"This place is known as the cradle of the Canadian #nuclear industry.

"'I think about the water, I think about the animals and think about future generations and what they’re going to be left with,' says Polson. 'And that’s something I don’t want to leave my granddaughter and my great-grandchildren as something to deal with this nuclear waste.'

"Established in 1944 about 200 kilometres northwest of Ottawa, Chalk River Laboratories is famous for research that led to the development of the #CANDU (CANada Deuterium #Uranium) reactor, one of the most efficient and safe nuclear reactors ever created, according to officials in the industry.

"Researchers at Chalk River have gone on to win Nobel prizes, and for decades, it was a world leader in the creation of radioisotopes for fighting cancer.

"However, Chalk River also has a darker legacy which includes supplying fuel for American #NuclearWarheads and in 1952, being home to the world’s first #NuclearMeltdown.

"But much has changed since then. Chalk River Laboratories has been absorbed into #AtomicEnergyCanada, a #CrownCorporation that contracts out to a company called Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (#CNL) to operate it.

"CNL is currently in the midst of a government funded $1.2-billion facelift. But before it can be transformed into a state-of-the-art nuclear campus, nearly 80 years of #radioactive legacy waste must be addressed.

"In a statement, CNL says 'While this waste was stored according to the best practices and regulations at the time, standards have changed.'

"So the solution CNL is trying to get off the ground is called the Near Surface Disposal Facility (#NSDF).

"Others might call it a dump.

"'This facility will not bring great things to the water or the land,' says Polson, 'every one knows across #TurtleIsland, #WaterIsLife.'"

Read more:
https://www.aptnnews.ca/investigates/algonquins-say-proposed-nuclear-waste-site-near-ottawa-prioritizes-money-over-safety/
#NuclearWasteStorage #EnvironmentalRacism #FirstNations #Canada