Media Release
For release Thursday, April 22, 1999
ENVIRONMENT GROUPS SLAM GOVERNMENT FOR PUSHING PLUTONIUM IMPORTS UNDER GUISE OF DISARMAMENT
Ottawa -- Environment groups are condemning the federal governmentís decision to push forward with a nuclear industry scheme to import weapons plutonium for use as a fuel in CANDU reactors. An all-party recommendation of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade (SCFAIT) advised the government to scrap the project on the grounds that it is ěunfeasibleî. This week the government announced that it will allow plutonium fuel tests to go forward as part of the project. Bringing plutonium into Canada will add to proliferation risks according to critics of scheme. They say that the government is using the disarmament issue as a smoke screen.
ěThis project is not about nuclear disarmament. Itís about bailing out AECL,î says Steve Shallhorn, Campaign Director of Greenpeace. He points out that warheads are being dismantled regardless of whether Canada takes the weapons plutonium and notes Canadians will be stuck with the waste from the project for thousands of years.
Elizabeth May, Executive Director of the Sierra Club of Canada states that ěJean Chrétien is showing complete disregard for the environment and democracy by going forward with the plutonium import scheme. Canadians have had no say as to whether they want our country to become a dumping ground for the superpowers cold war leftovers.î
Gordon Edwards of the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility rejects the governmentís justification for the project pointing out that the Government of Canada is not against plutonium, but seeks to commercialize it. ěNothing could be more dangerous for world peace than making plutonium a commodity,î he says. ěThe government of Canada talks about the tests of plutonium fuel, but what is really being tested is the will of the Canadian population. They want to see how docile Canadians will be in the face of this wrong-headed prospect of importing 100 tonnes of weapons plutonium into this country.î
ěProceeding with the tests is a make work project for AECL at taxpayers risk and expense,î states Kristen Ostling of the Campaign for Nuclear Phaseout. ěThe government is being manipulated by the nuclear industry. Depending on the nuclear industry to judge the safety of this proposal is like asking tobacco executives about the risks of second hand smoke. If Canada wants to help it should assist with securing the plutonium and immobilizing it." She adds that ěthe federal government owes it to Canadians to accept arms-length advice on this issue through open and accountable processes.î
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For further information please contact:
Campaign for Nuclear Phaseout, 613-789-3634
Greenpeace Canada, 416-597-8408
Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility, 514-489-5118
Sierra Club of Canada, 613-241-4611
web sites: www.ccnr.org/index.html#import
and www.cnp.ca.
Campaign for Nuclear Phaseout
cnp@web.net