Dear Prime Minister:
As organizations working tirelessly to protect the environment and seeking solutions to the climate crisis, we reflect the concerns of millions of Canadians. We are dismayed to learn that your government plans to announce on November 18 at an industry conference its action plan to support the development of small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs), leading eventually to the expansion of nuclear energy in Canada and to the added production of radioactive wastes.
Natural Resources Canada has undertaken no consultation whatsoever with environmental and citizen groups and the Canadian public aside from the “stakeholders” in the nuclear industry and organizations willing to sign on to a statement of support for SMRs.
Over 30 public interest groups across Canada who believe SMRs are a dirty, dangerous distraction from tackling the climate crisis signed the media release below. Nuclear energy is not green, not clean, too costly and too slow to build.
How can your government propose to commit this country to a strategy of nuclear energy expansion, with its wide-reaching and long-lasting environmental, health and fiscal implications, without a public dialogue and assessment of environmental, health, economic and social impacts?
Any further government commitment to the development of small modular reactors must be put on hold and a process established to permit Canadians to have their say and evaluate the economic, societal and environmental cases for and against nuclear energy expansion.
Yours sincerely,
Theresa McClenaghan, Executive Director and Counsel
Canadian Environmental Law Association
Beatrice Olivastri, CEO
Friends of the Earth Canada
Shawn-Patrick Stensil, Director of Programs
Greenpeace Canada
Gretchen Fitzgerald, National Program Director
Sierra Club Canada Foundation
Gordon Edwards Ph.D., President
Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility
Dr. Cathy Vakil
Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment
Jamie Kneen, Co-Manager
MiningWatch Canada
Ginette Charbonneau, Porte-parole
Ralliement contre la pollution radioactive
Richard Sandbrook D.Phil, FRSC, President
Science for Peace
Peter Driftmier, Chair
YYC For A Green New Deal (Alberta)
Ann Coxworth M.Sc. (Nuclear chemistry), Board Member Saskatchewan Environmental Society
Brennain Lloyd, Project Coordinator
Northwatch
Ann McAllister, Representative
Coalition for Responsible Energy Development in New Brunswick (CRED-NB)