Nuclear waste is in the news in Canada! A proposal for the deep burial "disposal" of nuclear fuel waste under the granite rock of the Canadian shield is under review, and plans for a "test-burn" of plutonium from Russian and US nuclear warheads are in the works. And an all-party standing committee examining Canada's nuclear policy has made several recommendations on nuclear waste and related issues. A government response is imminent.
(509/10.5016) V.O.W. - Canadian Voice of Women for Peace (VOW) has been active in all these issues. The group was formed in 1960 when women could no longer remain silent and inactive in the face of the threat of nuclear war and the dangers of radioactive fallout from nuclear testing. Its insistence from early on that nuclear weapons and nuclear energy were different aspects of the same problem made VOW unusual. Generally, peace groups focused their attention on nuclear weapons, leaving the nuclear power issue to the environmental movement. However, working toward nuclear phaseout was an integral aspect of VOW's raison d'être, a fulfillment of its constitutional mandate "to unite women in concern for the future of the world". VOW's long involvement with nuclear issues stems in part from the fact that nuclear radiation affects women's health disproportionately, and that women are more likely to suffer the consequences of redirecting social sending to costly nuclear projects. Beyond this, we feel that our greatest contribution is taking seriously our responsibility to future generations.
Some of VOW's high-profile members who are scientists have had a particular impact on nuclear issues. Dr. Ursula Franklin's campaign to test baby teeth for the radioactive isotope, Strontium-90 helped bring about the termination of aboveground nuclear tests in 1963. A current version of the "baby teeth project" is underway, this time testing the levels near nuclear reactors. Dr. Rosalie Bertell has done pioneering work on nuclear radiation and its effects on human health and the environment. Among the things she has brought to public attention are the problems associated with the use of depleted uranium in the Gulf War and the war in Kosovo. Besides bringing expert knowledge to the issues, VOW has worked to empower others and make knowledge accessible. We have added a sense of reality to some of the very abstract debates about nuclear waste, for example by making a full-scale model of the copper container proposed to bury nuclear waste and presenting it at the public hearings.
There are no easy answers to the problem of dealing with nuclear waste. When Canada decided to develop nuclear power 50 years ago, it did not know how to dispose of the waste products, and it still does not know until today. VOW insists that the problem must be dealt with at source by phasing out nuclear power. In dealing with existing nuclear wastes, we advocate finding the least unacceptable of the possible solutions, acknowledging that no solution is risk-free. The emphasis should be on solutions that minimize disaster. In the case of waste from reactors, we suggest this is aboveground monitored storage; for weapons plutonium it is immobilization (vitrification) in the country of origin.
Canada, officially a non-nuclear nation, has played a role in the development of both nuclear weapons and nuclear energy since the dawn of the nuclear age. Canadian technology and uranium were key aspects of the Manhattan project, and while Canada was the first nation with nuclear capacity to renounce the development of its own nuclear weapons, it has contributed to nuclear proliferation in many ways, mainly through uranium exports and the sale of Candu reactors. The integral connection between nuclear weapons and nuclear power are becoming evident to more people, with nuclear waste being identified as the weakest link in the nuclear chain. The Canadian government has stated that finding a solution to the nuclear waste problem would be good for the future of the nuclear industry. Conversely, reiterating that there is no solution to the problem of nuclear waste adds impetus to the campaigns for nuclear disarmament and the phaseout of nuclear power.
Source and contact: Canadian Voice of Women for Peace, 761 Queen St. West #203
Toronto, Ontario, M6J 1G1 Canada
Tel: +1-416-603 7915; Fax: +1-416-603 7916
Email: vow@interlog.com
WWW: www.interlog.com/~vow
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