Northwatch calls for postponement on nuclear reactors hearings

Northwatch News Release

*******************

North Bay – Public interest groups intervening in a federal hearing on proposed new nuclear reactors for Ontario are calling for a postponement of the hearing – currently scheduled to begin Monday – to allow consideration of lessons learned from the ongoing crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear station in Japan. Northwatch and the Canadian Environmental Law Association have written to the Hearing Panel, and others have supported their request or will do so at an opening session on hearing procedures Monday afternoon.

“With all thoughts and concerns so focused on the ongoing efforts to contain or control what continues to be a deteriorating situation at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear station, proceeding with the hearing as scheduled would be both insensitive and impractical”, stated Brennain Lloyd, on spokesperson for Northwatch.

“ Insensitive because it suggests that we – Panel and participants alike - adopt a 'business as usual' attitude that ignores the incredible anxiety and suffering of the Japanese people who are grappling with this tragedy, including those at the site dealing with the situation at great personal risk and sacrifice. Impractical because it denies that there are important lessons to be learned from the current crisis that are directly relevant to the Darlington proceedings.”

According to the Canadian Environmental Law Association, the events in Japan were stated this week to be “beyond design basis” events by nuclear experts in the media. This means that the events as they unfolded exceeded the failures that nuclear engineers had anticipated and
provided for in the plant designs. This is fundamental to the way safety analysis, accident prevention, and emergency preparation is done in the nuclear industry and these are critical issues for the Darlington Joint Panel.

“There are many unanswered questions concerning the unfolding events in Japan and it would be unseemly for the Darlington Joint Panel to commence its hearings and receive evidence on the various technologies, environmental and social risks, and related matters, at this time”, CELA summarized in a news release issued in response to the ongoing crisis at Fukushima.

The hearings to review the proposal to build up to four new reactors of unspecified design at the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station are currently scheduled to commence next Monday, and to run for three weeks. Northwatch’s review of Ontario Power Generations’s proposal for the management of the nuclear wastes that will be generated by the new reactors – if ever built – is scheduled for Tuesday, March 29th.

*******************