Overhead view of the proposed NSDF project. CNL says it will not be visible from the Ottawa River and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission says there will not be any environmental impacts
The Warden for the County of Renfrew will sign a petition in support of Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) proposed Near Surface Disposal Facility (NSDF) in Chalk River. Deep River Mayor Mayor Sue D’Eon requested the Warden’s signature as one of ten key supporters on a petition the town is submitting to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.
All elected officials attending the County Council meeting on March 30th, 2022, voted in favour of the Warden signing the petition of support for the Near Surface Disposal Facility. County Council has also agreed to intervene in support of the project during the public meetings.
However, not everybody is in favour of the project.
Reports from the Concerned Citizens of Renfrew and Area say the landfill would stand 60 feet tall, with some of the contents remaining dangerously radioactive for thousands of years, when the NSDF is only expected to last a couple hundred years. The design life for the NSDF is over 500 years, which CNL says is enough time for the low level waste to decay to normal levels you would find in the natural environment.
The NSDF would host up to 1-million cubic meters of low-level radioactive waste and be located approximately one kilometer away from the Ottawa River at the Chalk River Labs. The NSDF is designed to host low level nuclear waste. Roughly 90 percent of items that would be stored are already on site at the Chalk River Laboratories site (including construction and demolition waste from the $1-billion site revitalization) with the rest coming from hospitals and universities.
Other concerns have been raised about the proximity of the NSDF to the Ottawa River. In 2019, a group of roughly 100 people travelled up the Ottawa River on boats to protest against the project in front of CNL.
During the first part of the public hearing process, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission felt confident the NSDF project would not have a negative impact on people and the environment. Part two of the hearings gets underway May 31st and is expected to take place in Pembroke. Requests to intervene must be filed by April 11th, 2022, with more information available online.
If approved, CNL plans to build the first phase of the NSDF in the next three years.
(written by: Rudy Kadlec)
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