Media Release
For release Thursday, September 28th, 2000
 

The Campaign for Nuclear Phaseout has learned that a plutonium contaminated facility at Chalk River will cost $40 million to decommission. This new information was contained in a briefing note prepared by Transport Canada and obtained by CNP through the Access to Information Act.

The question-and-answer document also asks: “Is there any connection between the recent over-exposure of plutonium to AECL employees and the proposed CANDU MOX fuel test at Chalk River?” The incident referred to by Transport Canada took place in May 1999 when two workers entered the plutonium contaminated facility and inhaled an overdose of plutonium dust into their lungs even though they were wearing protective clothing. Atomic Energy of Canada Limited has been charged by both the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (formerly the Atomic Energy Control Board) and Human Resources Development Canada in connection with the incident. The charges—which are still before the courts—include nine alleged violations of the Canadian Labour Code.

The plutonium contaminated facility known as Building 220 was used to separate plutonium from irradiated fuel from 1950 to 1957. It was initially built at Chalk River under the direction of British scientists who were in the process of building the first British atomic bomb. Britain’s first sample of plutonium was produced at Chalk River just one year before the first UK atomic bomb test in Australia’s Monte Bello Islands in October 1952.

According to Dr. Gordon Edwards of the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility, “The plutonium overexposure of two workers in May 1999 shows that AECL is not competent to clean up plutonium contamination following a transportation accident. AECL’s protective equipment does not even protect the workers let alone the public or the environment.”

Today is International NIX MOX Day. Over 160 organizations from around the world, including Russia and the US, have signed a declaration opposed to the commercialization of plutonium (available on request). The dangers of a plutonium economy were well-recognized in the mid-1970s when the Carter administration outlawed the commercial use of plutonium fuel in the USA. At that time (1977), the Trudeau government nixed an AECL proposal to build a two billion dollar plutonium “Fuel Centre” here in Canada.

“The existing plutonium contamination at Chalk River demonstrates the need for openness, public accountability and public consultation on the whole question of plutonium imports. We can’t even handle the plutonium we’ve got; we should not be importing more, “ states Kristen Ostling of the Campaign for Nuclear Phaseout. “The $40 million clean up bill is a drop in the bucket compared with the liabilities that could result from a large scale plutonium import program,” Ostling adds.

For further information please contact:

Campaign for Nuclear Phaseout, 613-789-3634
Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility, 613-489-5118

For further background see: http://www.ccnr.org/canada_britain.html

Campaign for Nuclear Phaseout
cnp@web.net