First Nations of North Shore of Lake Huron take strong stand against high-level radioactive waste dump proposal

Photo by Robert Del Tredichi, showing devastation caused by wall of uranium tailings on the surrounding environmentAs announced in a media release, the North Shore Tribal Council of Lake Huron, representing 7 First Nations communities, has expressed its strong opposition to a bid by the City of Elliot Lake in Ontario to serve as a Canada-wide dumpsite for high-level radioactive waste. Elliot Lake remains severely contaminated after decades of a dozen uranium mines in its immediate area. The nuclear utility run Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) has been put in charge of searching for a "volunteer host" for irradiated nuclear fuel, hazardous for millions of years. The North Shore Tribal Council said "Our statement to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and to the Nuclear Waste Management Organization is: Do not waste your financial resources if you plan to conduct a study in this area because a nuclear waste dump is not going to happen here."

A 1998 book, republished in 2003, entitled "This Is Our Homeland," edited by Serpent River First Nation Members Lorraine Rekmans and Keith Lewis, as well as Anabel Dwyer, contains testimonials by First Nation and other survivors of decades of uranium mining at Elliot Lake.

25-40% underestimates of radiation doses to 1,769 Canadian health care workers undetected for 4 years

The Star has reported that 1,769 Canadian health care workers suffered radiation doses 25 to 40% worse than they were told four years ago, due to an error in a computer program administered by Health Canada. The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission regulates Health Canada on such matters, but both federal agencies missed the error for 4 years. Some health care workers were exposed to above permissible doses, once the error was caught. CNSC also regulates Canadian atomic reactors, and other nuclear facilities and activities. The article closed by quoting Mark Mattson of Lake Ontario Waterkeeper:

"Mark Mattson of Lake Ontario Waterkeeper, who has opposed construction of new nuclear units at Darlington, said the incident raises question about the nuclear regulator – which also oversees nuclear power stations.

'The shocking thing here is that no one noticed the mistake for four years,' he said.

'Waterkeeper is very interested to see who is held accountable for this mistake. In recent years, we have become increasingly concerned that the CNSC is lax when it comes to enforcing the rules.' "