Chris Lowrey
CHALK RIVER, ONT. Oct. 27 , 2017
The controversial Near Surface Disposal Site (NSDF) proposed for Chalk River Nuclear Plant will be amended following several complaints by local residents.
The facility was originally slated to house intermediate and low-level radioactive waste at the NSDF. However, Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL), who operate the Chalk River Plant, have said that intermediate level waste will not be stored at the NSDF.

The revised plan calls for the NSDF to only house low-level radioactive waste which meets the guidelines for low-level waste set out by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
However, according to opponents of the project, CNL isn’t using internationally-accepted definitions when it comes to low-level and intermediate level waste.
“In Canada we only have three definitions,” said Johanna Echlin of the Old Fort William Cottagers Association. “There’s low-level, intermediate and high-level and they’ve left out the very low-level.”
Intermediate-level waste will continue to be stored on site in interim storage facilities until a long-term disposal solution can be developed and approved.
But the lack of a long-term plan has Echlin and many others concerned.
“We’re pleased with the news that they’re not going to be storing intermediate-level waste, but it raises so many questions at the same time,” she said. “What are they going to do with the intermediate-level waste that they say they’re going to bring to Chalk River?”
Echlin said that the new plan still isn’t adequate and that CNL needs to start over when it comes to formulating a plan for radioactive waste disposal.
CNL received nearly 200 responses from concerned residents to its environmental impact statement.
Next up, CNL will revise the environmental impact statement after reviewing the responses from residents.
Ideally, Echlin said she would like to see CNL go back to the drawing board and find another spot for the storage facility that is further removed from the river.