Ongoing Situations
- Bruce County, Ontario may host Canada’s largest-ever nuclear waste dump (June 2019). Please see Comments section below for more on this topic.
- Towns Considering taking nuclear waste
- Plan to decomission Gentilly 2 in Quebec. (Schedule here.)
CUSJ actions
For the latest CUSJ posts on this topic, click here.
- CUSJ Letter to Ontario 2013 08 09 – Don’t Renew Darlington reactors.
- CUSJ responds to Federal Environmental Review on Darlington Upgrades October 15th, 2012.
- CUSJ Discussion Paper on Nuclear Power
- CUSJ Presents Brief 2011 03 28 by Margaret Rao and Frances Deverell to Darlington Commission on Nuclear Power
Pro-Nuclear
- George Monbiot — Guardian March 22, 2011: George Monbiot on negative impact of renewable energy
- Nuclear Power, Thorium By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
- Mark Lynas – Nuclear radiation is less harmful than we think
- Letters From Those Who Support Nuclear Power
Anti-Nuclear
- Ontario’s Green Energy Plan 2.0 (August 2010): ontario-green-energy-report-august-web
- Mouvement Vert Mauricie MVM_final on nuclear power (technical review of CANDU reactors)
- Saskatchewan Environmental Society Position on Nuclear Power: SES Nuclear Energy Position_Final
- Union of Concerned Scientists, (a Washington-based nuclear watchdog group) report by David Lochbaum, the UCS nuclear engineer (14 near misses): Nuclear power report – Near Misses
- Sierra Club talking points
- Kingston Whig Standard article, by Joshua Pearce, March 24, 2011 (Insurance): Nuclear and Govt Insurance
- Physicians For Social Responsibility – Thorium fact sheet
- Fukushima vs Chernobyl (2011)
- Fukushima Radiation Discussion
Beyond Nuclear
- Searching for a Miracle – Richard Heinberg on the need for a no-growth strategy for society.
Dear David,
The only thing I know that can work (and there are no guarantees) is organizing public pressure for your point of view. You have to find the people who feel as you do and begin to expand that circle. One way to go about it is to organize a protest. Greta Thunberg sat on the parliament steps all by herself. Alternatively, book a room at the library and put an ad in the paper inviting people to come and talk about it. Alternatively, create a petition and start walking door to door or standing in a public place asking people to sign it. Speak to groups — like church groups or service clubs or parent-teacher association.
Once you have a core team of 5-7 people you will have enough to brainstorm ideas and develop resources. You can plan to make a focused presentation to city council.
I noticed in the Toronto Star article that the industry is claiming the community as welcoming because there is no push back. They emphasize they want a willing partner. You can help to generate that push back.
I’m sure you would find an ally in Angela Bischoff. She works every day to support alternatives to nuclear power. I believe she works for Clean Air Alliance. I would strongly encourage you to contact her directly and find out if she can steer you toward your allies.
The most valuable gift you can give your community is a steady, committed presence on the issue. If you become known as the person who knows how to organize an event, who keeps the list of supporters and keeps everyone informed, that sort of thing, you provide a centre around which this can self-organize. When no one is willing to put in that time and effort then little happens.
Ground up organizing is time consuming and hard work but it is the best approach if you have a local issue that matters.
Our country is married to the nuclear industry the way it is married to oil and gas. The industry lobby has tremendous power with the ruling elites. It may be because we likely supply processed uranium to the US for their nuclear weapons. Something that doesn’t get a lot of publicity. Anyway it is very entrenched and will be a formidable opponent – just like oil and gas has been. But I do think with consistent pressure over decades we are finally getting somewhere on oil and gas issues — far too slowly.
Thank you for caring about your community’s health and well-being. Good for you.
Blessings,
Frances Deverell
”A politician thinks about the next elections—the statesman thinks about the next generations.”
James Freeman Clarke
Think back to the Site 41 victory. And the stopping of the mega-quarry. We were involved as Unitarians, but our greatest most grounded leaders were the Indigenous people of these areas. I suggest you contact the nearest Indigenous community and start planning from there. Spirituality with determination cannot fail.
BTW, the Raging Grannies have lots of great anti-nuke songs.
Here are some Granny contacts:
Barrie And District anita@bitwalla.com
Peterborough lslavin@nexicom.com or easterly@persona.ca
Simcoe County (Orillia) clarevand@gmail.com
Ottawa (a.k.a. “The Parliament Hill Mob”) https://ottawagrans.net/ or clippergale@yahoo.ca
Hello Cym and David. The Ontario Clean Air Alliance has been fighting the extension of Pickering and the rebuilding of the Bruce and Darlington nuclear stations for more than a decade. If you sign our petition here: http://www.CutTheCuts.ca and opt in for further info, you’ll get campaign updates from us once or twice a month. We oppose the DGR proposals at the Bruce and South Bruce to bury and abandon dangerous radioactive waste deep below the surface of the earth. We advocate above-ground, attack resistant, concrete bunkers to temporarily store the waste on-site of each nuclear site until we figure out how to permanently store it safely.
Thank you, Angela! This is great! I have signed the petition and I encourage all CUSJ members to do so as well. I have also signed up for your E-alerts.
All of the Bruce area & Georgian Bay depends on tourism, (I just came back recently from several days at Evergreen Resort) – So how about rallying all the tourism operators and related businesses?
I certainly do not want to go back if the area has a nuclear dump. I don’t even want to pass through.
We have been fighting against Pickering & Darlington in the Toronto area for years.
One thing I accomplished was the distribution of potassium iodide pills. (I presented at a CNSC hearing about the urgency)
You could get people asking for the potassium iodide (KI) pills.
You can request your pills here: preparetobesafe.ca
Thanks, Kate! This is very helpful information.
I am a resident of some 30 years in the village of Mildmay in the municipality of South Bruce. You may know that we have been targeted by the NWMO as a possible “informed and willing community” to accept all of Canadas most toxic nuclear waste.
I have been adamately opposed since my days on South Bruce council!
But the good news bullshit propaganda from the NWMO is overwhelming.
I need help to convince my community this is not a good idea. Do you have any ideas?
Hi David, Thank you for reaching out. I see that South Bruce had a visitor from the nuclear waste management office in April of this year. And I also see a June article that provides details about the proposal to have South Bruce host a “crypt” filled with nuclear waste. I agree that having one’s home near a nuclear dump is a scary prospect, and even scarier is the thought that Ontario has no plans to stop pumping out more nuclear energy and generating more waste like this.
I am going to share your comment on CUSJforum@googlegroups.com and see if anyone has suggestions for you. Personally, I think that you should focus on finding anti-nuclear allies in Ontario (for example, sign up for the CAPE blog) and educating your fellow citizens about the dangers of nuclear energy, with a view to making alternative energies an election issue. Organizations that are promoting the Green New Deal, like 350.org and the leap.org are a good place to start. Good luck!