Good evening.
My name is Ginette Charbonneau, and I am a retired physicist. I am the spokesperson for Ralliement contre la pollution radioactive.
I am asking Parliament today to exercise great vigilance regarding the problems of radioactive waste generated by small modular reactors. It is risky to develop the nuclear industry because, as you know, the waste is accumulating more and more, and the costs associated with managing it are becoming absolutely astronomical.
The federal government is putting a lot of money into SMRs. It's a new fad. However, we sincerely believe that SMRs will be ready too late, so they won't be able to mitigate the effects of climate change and their radioactive waste will pollute remote areas, which is very sad. Most first nations are opposed to the deployment of SMRs on their territory. Many letters have been written about this by first nations people.
In our opinion, the funding should instead be allocated to less expensive green technologies, which are also ready‑made. The problem of climate change is a real emergency, and taxpayers' money should not be spent on projects—laudable, but nonetheless unrealistic—put forward by the nuclear industry lobby.
I would now like to point out that every effort has been made to unduly encourage and fund the design and production of small modular reactors, despite the danger of the waste they generate that is never mentioned.
This is not consistent with section 82 of the Impact Assessment Act. This section provides that an authority shall not provide financial assistance to enable a project to proceed on federal lands, unless the authority determines that the project is not likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects.
No one has proven that there are no negative environmental effects. In fact, everything was done to avoid having to prove it. So SMRs were exempted, unfortunately, from the Impact Assessment Act.
The SMR roadmap prepared by Natural Resources Canada included several recommendations, including the odious recommendation to exempt SMRs from all federal legislation. Imagine: no environmental assessment for SMRs. It makes no sense. The limits are important.
Most small modular reactors will therefore not be subject to the new legislation, which applies only to reactors with a power of more than 900 megawatts thermal that are within the licensed boundaries of a nuclear facility, such as nuclear power plants, or small modular reactors over 200 megawatts thermal that are outside the licensed boundaries of nuclear power plants, for example, in remote areas such as small villages.
This means, in practice, that almost all small modular reactors do not have to undergo an environmental assessment under the act. That is outrageous.
The problem with SMRs is that they will be multiplied, while their complex waste is poorly documented. All of the information on SMRs hardly ever discusses their waste, as if it didn't exist. There is so much uncertainty associated with small modular reactors that it is unbelievable that the government has excluded them from the act. Since SMRs are not subject to the Impact Assessment Act, proponents can make unilateral decisions and accept a project.
Furthermore, the waste generated by SMRs is completely ignored. The following is clear proof of this. When the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission reviews the safety of a newly designed SMR, the waste generated by that reactor isn't considered at all, as if it did not exist.
It's as if we don't have to worry about it. People only talk about how they work. Waste will only be considered during the licence application process—