Cold War Leftovers: Canada and Nuclear Weapons
Waste
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| The U.S. and Russia are currently implementing nuclear disarmament agreements and undertaking to dismantle thousands of nuclear weapons. The plutonium “triggers” from these warheads pose the most perplexing hazardous waste management dilemma of our time. Proponents of nuclear power in the United States and Canada have put forward a proposal to use this warhead plutonium as nuclear reactor fuel. The proposal raises important questions. Should plutonium be widely used as a reactor fuel, ushering in a global plutonium economy? Or, should plutonium be treated as hazardous waste and a security risk, to be eliminated by ending all plutonium production and isolating and guarding what’s been created to the best of our ability? The Canadian Proposal
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Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) and Ontario Hydro have put forward a proposal to import reactor fuel made with plutonium from dismantled U.S. and Russian warheads to use in CANDU reactors. AECL is the federal crown corporation responsible for the design and marketing of CANDU reactors. Ontario Hydro (reincorporated as Ontario Power Generation earlier this year) is proposing to use this plutonium fuel in its reactors at the Bruce Nuclear Power Development on the shore of Lake Huron.
Without any public or parliamentary debate the Canadian government agreed in principle to allow the import of plutonium fuel. The government and the nuclear industry portray the proposal as a “swords into ploughshares” initiative which will make productive use of dismantled weapons. However, in December 1998 the House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs (SCFAIT) found the government's plutonium import plan to be “totally unfeasible”. Although the multi-party committee recommended that the plan be scrapped, the government announced in April 1999 that it still supports the plan.
In the fall of 1999, weapons plutonium fuel may be transported to Canada for tests at Chalk River Nuclear Labs. In Canada, the tests and associated transport have been planned in the absence of comprehensive public and environmental assessment. The tests will serve as the first step before approval is given for large-scale plutonium shipments. Shipments would enter Canada at least once a month for 20 or more years. The high level nuclear waste resulting from the project would remain in Canada indefinitely.
Critics of the scheme question the need for nuclear weapons states to export part of their plutonium stockpiles to achieve increased security. The used plutonium fuel would remain in Canada, setting a dangerous precedent for making Canada a global nuclear waste site. The full cost of the proposal to taxpayers and ratepayers has not been calculated, and could include the expense of upgrading nuclear reactors and additional security measures.
Critics have also raised concerns about the hazards and security risks of transporting and storing fresh plutonium fuel. The civil liberties of Canadians could be eroded by the extreme security measures required to safeguard the fuel. Public health and environmental hazards associated with the use of this fuel in CANDU reactors are another area of concern.
Canada’s support for the import of plutonium fuel is helping to launch a global plutonium economy. It integrates Canada into the nuclear weapons programs of the U.S. and Russia, while both continue to maintain and upgrade their nuclear weapons arsenals. The spirit of Canada’s Nuclear Non-Proliferation policy may be violated by the import of plutonium fuel, because the policy is intended to isolate the Canadian nuclear industry from the nuclear weapons programs of other countries.
| Alpha Rays from a Radioactive Particle in Lung Tissue
photograph by Robert Del Tredici from the book,
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The black star in the image at left shows the tracks made
over a 48 hour period by alpha rays emitted from a radioactive particle
of plutonium lodged in the lung tissue of an ape (the particle itself is
invisible).
In living lung tissue, if one of the cells adjacent to the particle is damaged in a certain way, it can become a cancer cell later on, spreading rapidly through the lung. |
The U.S. Department of Energy (DoE), which is responsible for the U.S. weapons plutonium stockpile, has stated that U.S. participation in the project is conditional on a trilateral agreement between Canada, Russia and the United States. Under the agreement, Russia and the United States would both send weapons plutonium fuel to Canada for use in Canadian reactors. However, the planned test burn of U.S. weapons plutonium is proceeding without the trilateral agreement in place.
The DoE funded the feasibility study carried out by AECL and Ontario Hydro to look at using U.S. plutonium fuel in CANDUs. The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) funded a similar report on the feasibility of importing Russian plutonium fuel. Meanwhile, the Russian Federation is interested in using its weapons plutonium stockpile in its own reactors, and is conducting research and development to that end. The DoE has also received proposals from U.S. utilities interested in using plutonium fuel in light water reactors, a less expensive option than exporting it to Ontario Hydro.
An alternative approach is “vitrification”. The U.S. DoE has made a commitment to vitrify some of its plutonium, by mixing it with existing liquid radioactive wastes and turning it into solid glass or ceramic. Both the vitrification of weapons plutonium and its use as a reactor fuel result in a waste form that is too hazardous to approach without sophisticated protection because of high radiation fields.
Plutonium fuel consists of plutonium oxide derived from the bomb triggers and other plutonium stocks, blended with uranium oxide to form mixed oxide, or MOX fuel, as it is known. The plutonium fuel for CANDU reactors contains only a few percent plutonium and is supposed to be specially designed to match the characteristics of uranium fuel currently used.
Under the AECL/Ontario Hydro proposal, plutonium fuel would be manufactured outside of Canada, and transported to the Bruce site in heavily guarded convoys, by road, ship or air. Even plutonium in the form of fresh MOX fuel is classified as a huge security risk, and must be guarded in the same fashion as nuclear warheads to prevent theft by criminal or terrorist organizations. There is also a risk that the fresh plutonium fuel will become critical (undergo a sustained nuclear chain reaction) under certain transportation and handling accidents.
Ontario Hydro has claimed that CANDU reactors in Ontario can operate with a full load of plutonium fuel. If Ontario Power Generation signs agreements with the U.S. and Russia to buy fuel, the reactors at the Bruce “B” nuclear station might operate for a decade or two using plutonium. While the nuclear industry believes it is feasible to operate CANDUs with plutonium fuel, this has never been fully tested. The reactor safety assessment would be reviewed by the Atomic Energy Control Board during the licensing process.
Nuclear fuel waste is currently stored at each nuclear station site in Canada. A federal environmental assessment of an AECL proposal to bury nuclear fuel waste at an undetermined location in the Canadian Shield concluded in 1998 after having been underway for several years. The review panel was informed, during the course of public hearings, about the proposal to import plutonium fuel and keep the fuel waste. The panel's final report, tabled at the beginning of 1998, did not address the issue of plutonium fuel imports. Plutonium fuel waste is more radioactive and has a higher temperature compared to CANDU uranium fuel.
09/99
MOX Experience
The Disposition of Excess Russian and U.S. Weapons Plutonium in Canada
July 1997, Dr. Franklyn Griffiths, George Ignatieff Chair of Peace and
Conflict Studies University of Toronto
"This study recommends that the Canadian government refuse to give the
CANDU MOX initiative its support any longer, and that the proposal be consigned
to oblivion." [Summary, p.1]
"Viewed in its entirety, the CANDU MOX initiative offers no direct benefits
to Canadians and Ontarians aside from locally valued employment and larger
business opportunities for a nuclear industry that cannot survive without
public subsidy. Not only would there be no substantial benefits, but considerable
direct costs would have to be accepted. ...[T]he swords-into-ploughshares
argument for Canadian-based reactor disposition is not sustainable." [p.61]
"Overall, there is no avoiding the conclusion that implementation of
the CANDU MOX initiative would do little to make the world a safer place.
Where nuclear non-proliferation is concerned, it promises actually to make
the world more dangerous by making Canada appear increasingly permissive
on fuel-cycle issues..." [p.65]
If you are concerned by what you have read, write or call the Prime Minister, your MP and other elected representatives. Tell them to cancel the plutonium "test burn" at Chalk River and withdraw their "support in principle" for CANDU plutonium fuel imports.
1) You can write to Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy, Natural Resources Minister Ralph Goodale , other ministers and all federal MPs postage-free at the following address:
House of Commons
Ottawa Ontario
K1A 0A6
2) You can directly fax or telephone the offices of Jean Chrétien, Lloyd Axworthy and Ralph Goodale:
Jean Chrétien; telephone, 613-992-4211; fax, 613-941-6900
Lloyd Axworthy; telephone, 613-995-0153; fax, 613-947-4442
Ralph Goodale; telephone, 613-996-3843; fax, 613-992-5098
To get the telephone number of other federal MPs call 1-800-667-3355.
3) You can send a fax free of charge to the Prime Minister of Canada,
other federal MPs and Ontario MPPs by visiting the "Fax the Feds" web page.
Fax the Feds web site address is http://www.net-efx.com/faxfeds/
(Update: As of September 15, 1999 services on the Fax the Feds web site were temporarily unavailable. If services on the site are still unavailable, you can obtain fax or telephone numbers for federal members of parliament by clicking on this link.)
4) You can mail, e-mail, call or send a fax to Premier Mike Harris:
Hon. Michael Harris
Premier of Ontario
Legislative Building
Queen's Park
Toronto, Ontario
M7A 1A1
Telephone: 416-325-1941
Fax: 416-325-7578
e-mail: webprem@gov.on.ca
5) You can mail, e-mail, call or send a fax to Premier Lucien Bouchard:
Monsieur Lucien Bouchard
Premier ministre du Québec
Cabinet du Premier ministre
885 Grande Allée Est 3e étage
Québec (Québec)
G1A 1A2
Tel (418) 643-5321
Fax (418) 643-3924
e-mail: premier.ministre@cex.gouv.qc.ca
(You can find e-mail, telephone and related information for other members
of the Quebec National Assembly on the web at http://www.assnat.qc.ca/eng/membres/deputes_lst.html)
If you would like more information on the weapons plutonium issue in Canada you can read CNP's other documentation as well that contained on the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility web site, www.ccnr.org.
Campaign for Nuclear Phaseout
www.cnp.ca
