Nuclear waste stored in trailers

[Oscar]

Nuclear waste stored in trailers

Trailers at MM&A contain radioactive processing waste

http://www.northpeel.com/br/news/story/ ... 6417c.html
August 11, 2006

PAM DOUGLAS

A citizen's group dropped a nuclear waste bombshell at city council last week, telling councillors that tractor trailers sitting on a local company's property contain radioactive waste.

People Against Radioactive Contamination (PARC) made the revelation.

A spokesperson for the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) has confirmed that 25 tractor-trailers outside Mississauga Metals & Alloys (MM&A) on Sun Pac Boulevard contain "radioactive processing waste", although they would not reveal how much of it is in the trailers.

"The trailers contain radioactive processing wastes," according to CNSC spokesperson Sunni Locatelli. "The exact inventory of nuclear substances or materials in the trailers is considered prescribed information and as such is not publicly available."

She also said using the trailers as storage for the waste meets CNSC regulations.

"In its current state, the mildly radioactive contaminated materials are not combustible," Locatelli said. "In their current location, the materials stored in the trailers on the property pose no health hazard to workers or the general public."

CNSC officials have also said that MM&A has resumed "conventional" metal recycling operations on site. CNSC officials inspected the site July 17 and confirmed that MM&A is working to meet the requirements of the order that shut down the entire plant in June over fire hazard concerns.

One of the requirements to allow resumption of recycling of non-nuclear contaminated metal was to remove nuclear material from the building and secure it on site, and that has been done by storing the waste in the trailers, according to CNSC officials. A security guard is on site 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

PARC, formerly the Citizens for a Nuclear Free Peel, raised alarm about how much waste is on site, how long it has been piling up, and who would be responsible for cleaning it up if MM&A closes its operations, goes bankrupt or suffers a major incident.

MM&A has been importing radioactive-contaminated metal since 1998. The company's business is to "recycle" that metal, extracting the radioactivity so the metal can be re-used.

The byproduct-- radioactive processing waste-can be returned to the source, or sent to a nuclear waste facility, according to the CNSC, the licencing agency for the nuclear portion of the business.

"Their licence allows them to possess it (radioactive waste)," said Aurele Gervais.

PARC spokesman Jaipaul Massey-Singh asked city councillors to immediately enforce the outside storage bylaw violations at the site, noting the city has already started going that route.

He also raised concern about the possibility of radioactive waste being discharged into the sanitary sewer system, saying a regional bylaw allows that to happen.

However, Region of Peel Director Mark Schiller said regional officials believe PARC is misinterpreting the region's bylaw governing discharges into sanitary sewers. The region is reviewing its wording and will respond to city council on the issue, he said.

PARC brought an expert to Brampton from Montreal last week to tell councillors about concerns surrounding zirconium, the handling of radioactive materials and radioactive waste. Dr. Gordon Edwards told councillors, as far as he can see, MM&A's proposal to put an incinerator on site to burn material contaminated with low levels of radiation is an "experiment".

"It's the first time this type of incinerator has been proposed in a community. Why is this being done in a community with a sizable population around it?" he asked.

It's the same question being asked by Brampton Mayor Susan Fennell.

"It's not been hard in the City of Brampton to rally around this issue as a frightening concern," Fennell said. "What is really going on there and how can we get rid of it? We have dedicated two staff members to work on this issue."

She told PARC city staff is "fully focused on the questions that you have asked."

"We are going to work together to solve this problem. I wish we didn't have this challenge," she said.

MM&A's CNSC licence expires on Sept. 30, and PARC and the city are calling for a public hearing before it is renewed. CNSC officials say a licence renewal is reviewed and issued by a CNSC designated officer, but comments from the public are welcome.

Despite PARC's concern that MM&A does not have an export licence to get rid of unwanted contaminated material, CNSC's Locatelli said MM&A currently has two export licences authorizing them to return to a supplier radioactive contaminated scrap metal that has not been processed, and miscellaneous contaminated waste (waste containers, plastic, wood) to the original suppliers of the contaminated scrap metal.

In June, the CNSC shut down MM&A after an inspection uncovered "numerous" fire code violations and inadequate environmental and human health protections. Two recent fires at the plant sparked the inspection.

The company has temporarily put on hold its environmental assessment for expansion and an incinerator to burn low-level radioactive waste.

PHOTO: These trailers on the property of Mississauga Metals and Alloys on Sun Pac Boulevard contain radioactive processing waste, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) has confirmed. As well, the commission says the use of trailers to store the waste meets CNSC regulations.