Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission to review Sierra Club Canada’s “junk science” as part of public review

OTTAWA – Sierra Club Canada is pleased to announce that the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) will consider the report “Tritium On Tap” as part of a public review, despite once branding the publication “junk science” in a 2009 press release.

A few weeks later, the Darlington nuclear plant spilled roughly 300 000 litres of tritium-contaminated water into Lake Ontario east of Toronto.

“Tritium is the nuclear industry’s dirty little secret,” said John Bennett, Executive Director of Sierra Club Canada. “It’s dripping into the environment and our bodies.”

The Sierra Club Canada report “Tritium on Tap” points out that Canada’s nuclear industry releases massive quantities of radioactive pollution on a routine basis, which then contaminates food and drinking water with known carcinogens. The report, which uses data from the CNSC to make its case, calls for safer standards in nuclear facilities and the eventual phase out of nuclear power altogether. The “Tritium on Tap” publication will be read as part of a Public Meeting on tritium studies to be held by the CNSC on Tuesday, June 29.

“It’s time the CNSC realized it’s responsible for the public’s safety, not the industry’s,” said Mr. Bennett.

 
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Contact: 
 
Robb Barnes 
Communications Intern 
Sierra Club Canada 
robbb@sierraclub.ca 
613.241.4611 x230