The facts on nuclear safety

Dear Editor,

Oshawa city council is often the subject of criticism – some of it justified – but when a spokesperson for the nuclear industry lectures council on its resolution to oppose the Deep Geologic Repository (DGR) for low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste on the shores of Lake Huron near Kincardine, those comments can and should be easily dismissed.
Throughout his letter, Dr. Jeremy Whitlock claims that council doesn’t have the facts, yet he is conveniently silent on the bungled attempts to safely keep radioactive wastes away from the human and natural environments. I invite readers to look up the 2014 fire and release of radioactive gases from the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico – attributed in part to using the wrong kind of kitty litter to stabilize the wastes (Santa Fe New Mexican, March 26, 2015) – and the more than €4-billion cleanup bill for the scandalous Asse II mine dump in Germany (Der Spiegel, February 21, 2013).

Seriously, it’s not like the USA or Germany are technological backwaters. If they can’t do it, assurances of “trust us, we’re the experts” should ring alarm bells.
I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of pompous experts patronizing the public – “you don’t know what we know, so you are not qualified to comment.” Where Dr. Whitlock’s expertise falls flat is his misunderstanding of democratic processes. Oshawa (and incidentally, major Canadian and US cities and the state of Michigan) are perfectly within their rights in condemning the plan, and Dr. Whitlock’s estimation of council members’ excretions are completely irrelevant.

Louis Bertrand