An organization comprised of 82 mayors in the Montreal area last week unanimously issued a resolution of objection to plans for a radioactive waste disposal facility at Chalk River, Ontario.
The Montreal Metropolitan Community (CMM) “is initiating a process to oppose this nuclear dump development project and intends to work with the City of Gatineau and the Union of Quebec Municipalities to develop a common position that will be forwarded to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission,” Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante, president of CMM, said in a press release.
The mayors worry that radioactive material from the facility could leak into drinking water supplies for Quebec and Ontario.
The full resolution, in French, can be found here.
The private Canadian Nuclear Laboratories contracts with the government for management and operations of sites and programs under the oversight of Atomic Energy of Canada. That includes the Chalk River Laboratories, where it aims to build an engineered mound for up to 1 million cubic meters of radioactive waste.
About 1 percent of that would be intermediate-level waste, and the rest low-level material, CNL determined in 2016.
The project has also drawn opposition from senior members of the First Nations, CBC News reported last week.
