Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his government “trusts the experts” when it comes to decisions around the Near Surface Disposal Facility at Chalk River.
But opponents of the project say it is “unacceptable” that the decision has been left in the hands of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.
In a letter to Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson and Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault, representatives of three groups fighting the NSDF say Canada is “unique” in giving its national regulatory agency “sole responsibility for decisions about nuclear waste disposal projects.”
“This is unacceptable to Canadians.”
Ole Hendrickson of the Concerned Citizens of Renfrew County and Area, Gordon Edwards of the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility, and Ginette Charbonneau of the Ralliement contre la pollution radioactive say the CNSC is not equipped to deal with the issue of Canada’s obligations under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).
“Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians want elected officials and the government of Canada to be accountable for decisions on the NSDF and other nuclear waste disposal projects,” they say.
“The CNSC is an unelected body that is not accountable to the electorate”…
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