Why you should care……
Risk
Beryllium and small quantities of uranium are currently released by BWXT (formerly GE-Hitachi) Peterborough. Beryllium is a Type I carcinogen and represents a significant risk to workers, school children and neighbours. However, if BWXT is allowed to produce nuclear pellets here, much greater quantities of uranium dust will be released in addition to the beryllium. How will this affect our community?
Industrial processes that pose health risks have no business being in urban areas.
Citizens must be informed. Companies including BWXT must be transparent about their business plans and monitoring data available in real time, for the public to see and access.
Uranium and Kids
Children are thought to be especially vulnerable to radiation exposure . However, scientists don’t really know what the limits are since there is little science to support any safety claims. BWXT’s “risk assessment report” has 94 pages of data and graphs detailing climate, geology, ground water, health and safety of workers - yet school aged children are discussed exactly 0 times. The junior play area of Prince of Wales school is about 25 metres from the BWXT Peterborough plant and yet, do all parents know of the risks associated with BWXT’s proposal?
We need to be informed. We have a right to participate in any decision that affects our health, our community and our environment.
BWXT’s Toronto site releases much more uranium dust than the Peterborough site.
Soil samples of uranium in neighbouring areas around the Toronto plant are higher than those found around any other uranium processing facility in Ontario ( Blind River, 2 facilities in Port Hope and Toronto) . Furthermore, none of these facilities has a primary school just a few metres away. The Peterborough plant is not currently listed on this graph because there’s not enough uranium dust produced to be measured. If BWXT has its license revised, Peterborough will appear on this graph.
Property Values
There has not been any formal study of the impact that processing uranium oxide powder into pellets might have on real estate in Peterborough. Home owners in Peterborough will have to consider the impact the BWXT license change will have on their home values.
Water Consumption.
The Toronto BWXT plant uses large volumes of water. This water is disposed of through the municipal waste system and returned to Lake Ontario. The quantity of water use is expected to be similar in Peterborough. However, the Otonabee River is a much smaller body of water and cannot tolerate this pollution, particularly if the 9000kg/year of uranium currently permitted under Toronto BWXT’s license is moved to Peterborough.
Residents of Peterborough as well those living on the Otonabee watershed have a right to know how BWXT’s license change will affect them.