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>Date: Wed, 29 Sep 1999 10:15:44 -0500
>To:
>From: OPIRG-Carleton <opirg@carleton.ca>
>Subject: Urgent Action Alert: Stop Plutonium Fuel Imports Now
>Cc:
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>>Mime-Version: 1.0
>>X-Sender: cnp@pop.web.net
>>Date: Mon, 27 Sep 1999 14:04:56 -0400
>>To: opirg@carleton.ca
>>From: Campaign for Nuclear Phaseout <cnp@web.net>
>>Subject: Urgent Action Alert: Stop Plutonium Fuel Imports Now
>>X-MIME-Autoconverted: from quoted-printable to 8bit by
>>alfred.ccs.carleton.ca id NAA00030
>>
>>--------------------
>>September 24, 1999
>>
>>Urgent Action Alert: Stop Plutonium Fuel Imports Now
>>
>>Dear friends,
>>
>>With no mandate from the Canadian population or parliament, the
>>federal government has given its go-ahead for Atomic Energy of Canada
>>Limited (AECL) to import weapons plutonium (MOX) fuel from Russia and
>>the United States into Canada for the purposes of a test at Chalk
>>River, Ontario this fall.
>>
>>This project is part of a larger plan to import up to 100 tonnes of
>>weapons plutonium fuel to be used in CANDU reactors over the next
>>twenty five years.
>>
>>There is mounting opposition to this controversial plan:
>>firefighters, aboriginal leaders, city councils, mayors of the St.
>>Lawrence and Great Lakes Region, the Federation of Canadian
>>Municipalities, along with medical, disarmament, environmental and
>>other public interest groups have come out against the scheme. We
>>need your help to send a strong message to federal, provincial and
>>municipal leaders that the plutonium fuel test at Chalk River as well
>>as the larger plan should be scrapped.
>>
>>
>>Here is how you can help:
>>
>>1) Write to your municipal, provincial and federal representatives
>>and urge them to take steps to cancel the plutonium fuel import plan.
>>(Contact information is provided at the end of this letter for
>>federal and provincial politicians. Call your city or town hall for
>>municipal contact information.)
>>
>>Tell them:
>>
>>- the test should not proceed and that you are opposed to the entire
>>plutonium fuel project. The test cannot be separated from the
>>full-scale program--one leads to the other.
>>
>>-plutonium should be treated as a dangerous waste product to be
>>immobilized and guarded. It should not be commercialized.
>>Immobilization would not require transporting plutonium over long
>>distances. Canada can send specialists to help Russia and the US to
>>deal with their plutonium problems, but we should not be bringing the
>>problems here.
>>
>>-plutonium is a highly dangerous material and the consequences of a
>>severe transportation accident could be significant. AECL's
>>transportation plans for the plutonium fuel shipment include a
>>scenario involving an "event that leads to the MOX fuel shipping
>>package breaking open, in a severe fire, and releasing plutonium
>>dioxide particles into the air.. . . The public is assumed to be near
>>enough to the accident to breathe air contaminated with plutonium
>>dioxide." AECL also states that: "The potentially exposed population
>>consists of all persons located under the plume footprint out to a
>>downwind distance of 80 km." This contradicts the claim made by Ralph
>>Goodale, the Minister of Natural Resources, that the plutonium fuel
>>"can't ignite or burn".
>>
>>- plutonium is the most carefully guarded material on earth because
>>it can be used to make atomic bombs. The US National Academy of
>>Sciences says that plutonium fuel should be guarded as carefully as
>>intact nuclear weapons. Canada does not have the expertise to do so.
>>Although the shipments will be accompanied by a security team and
>>tracked by satellite, AECL's transportation plans do not address the
>>threat of criminals attempting to highjack the shipment.
>>
>>-using plutonium as reactor fuel does not destroy the plutonium: up
>>to 2/3 of the original amount of weapons plutonium remains in the
>>spent nuclear fuel and must be guarded for tens of thousands of years.
>>
>>- the plutonium fuel import scheme will not contribute to nuclear
>>disarmament. Rather, it is about propping up Canada's declining
>>nuclear industry. Instead of embarking upon this initiative which
>>will aggravate Canada's nuclear waste problems, Canada should phase
>>out nuclear power.
>>
>>- the federal government should adopt the recommendation of an
>>all-party parliamentary committee (Standing Committee on Foreign
>>Affairs and International Trade, December 1998) that the plutonium
>>fuel plan be scrapped. In spite of this, the Chrétien cabinet
>>rejected the committee's advice in April 1999.
>>
>>- Canada should be pushing for a global ban on plutonium production
>>and use. Instead, by going along with AECL's scheme, Canada is
>>fostering global traffic in plutonium which will increase the risk of
>>nuclear terrorism, nuclear accidents, and nuclear weapons
>>proliferation.
>>
>>2) At the municipal level, encourage your representatives to pass
>>resolutions against the weapons plutonium fuel scheme as the
>>municipalities of Cornwall, Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie have done.
>>
>>3) Atomic Energy of Canada Limited has submitted plutonium fuel
>>transportation plans to Transport Canada. October 15th is the
>>deadline for comments on the transportation and emergency response
>>plans for the transportation of plutonium fuel in Canada. You can
>>access the plans at http://www.tc.gc.ca/tdgoods/info/mox_e.asp.
>>
>>Comments can be submitted to:
>>
>>Parallex Test Documentation Transport Dangerous Goods Directorate
>>Transport Canada
>>Place de Ville
>>9th floor
>>330 Sparks Street
>>Ottawa, Ontario
>>K1A 0N5
>>e-mail: mox@tc.gc.ca
>>fax: 613-990-2917
>>
>>Transport Canada is asking you to indicate if your letter or e-mail
>>can be added to Transport Canada's website for public viewing.
>>
>>We can provide you with background materials and help with your
>>outreach work. Copies of your letters should be forwarded to CNP.
>>Please see additional contact information and a description on the
>>transportation routes below. For further information: www.cnp.ca and
>>www.ccnr.org.
>>
>>Keep us posted on your initiatives. Together we can stop this
>>wrong-headed plan to import weapons plutonium.
>>
>>Yours for a nuclear-free world,
>>
>>Kristen Ostling
>>National Coordinator
>>Campaign for Nuclear Phaseout
>>1200-1 Nicholas Street, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 7B7
>>tel: 613-789-3634
>>fax: 613-241-2292
>>e-mail: cnp@web.net
>>
>>
>>
>>NOTE:
>>CONTACT INFORMATION FOR FEDERAL AND PROVINCIAL POLITICIANS
>>AS WELL AS A DESCRIPTION OF THE PLUTONIUM FUEL TRANSPORT ROUTES FOLLOWS
>>
>>----------------------
>>
>>CONTACT INFORMATION
>>
>>Listed below is contact information for federal and provincial politicians.
>>
>>
>>1) You can send a fax free of charge to the Prime Minister, other
>>federal MPs and Ontario MPPs by visiting the "Fax the Feds" web page.
>>Fax the Feds web site address is http://www.net-efx.com/faxfeds/.
>>
>>
>>2) You can write to Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, Foreign Affairs
>>Minister Lloyd Axworthy, Natural Resources Minister Ralph Goodale ,
>>other ministers and all federal MPs postage-free at the following
>>address:
>>
>>House of Commons
>>Ottawa Ontario
>>K1A 0A6
>>
>>
>>3) You can directly fax or telephone the offices of Jean Chrétien,
>>Lloyd Axworthy and Ralph Goodale:
>>
>>Jean Chrétien; telephone, 613-992-4211; fax, 613-941-6900
>>Lloyd Axworthy; telephone, 613-995-0153; fax, 613-947-4442
>>Ralph Goodale; telephone, 613-996-3843; fax, 613-992-5098
>>
>>
>>4) You can mail, e-mail, call or send a fax to Premier Mike Harris:
>>
>>Honourable Michael Harris
>>Premier of Ontario
>>Legislative Bldg
>>Queen's Park
>>Toronto, Ontario
>>M7A 1A1
>>
>>Telephone: 416-325-1941
>>Fax: 416-325-7578
>>e-mail: webprem@gov.on.ca
>>
>>
>>5) You can mail, e-mail, call or send a fax to Premier Lucien Bouchard:
>>
>>Monsieur Lucien Bouchard
>>Premier ministre du Québec
>>Cabinet du Premier ministre
>>885 Grande Allée Est 3e étage
>>Québec (Québec)
>>G1A 1A2
>>
>>Tel (418) 643-5321
>>Fax (418) 643-3924
>>e-mail: premier.ministre@cex.gouv.qc.ca
>>
>>(You can find e-mail, telephone and related information for other
>>members of the Quebec National Assembly on the web at
>>http://www.assnat.qc.ca/eng/membres/deputes_lst.html)
>>
>>
>>6) If you are receiving this Action Alert directly from CNP by
>>e-mail, you may also have received (in two separate e-mail messages)
>>a complete e-mail listing of federal MPs and Ontario MPPs. These
>>lists are also available by contacting the Campaign for Nuclear
>>Phaseout at cnp@web.net.
>>
>>
>>----------------------
>>
>>
>>DESCRIPTION OF THE PLUTONIUM FUEL TRANSPORTATION ROUTES
>>
>>(excerpt from: "Canadian Transportation Plan for the PARALLEX
>>Project-Los Alamos to Chalk River Shipment", AECL Document:
>>100-37000-TD-003 Revision 0, Page 14 of 24 )
>>
>>
>>
>>1) The Canadian portion of the route from Russia into Canada
>>
>>"Cornwall, Ontario
>>
>>This route travels about 6650 km from St Petersburg by ocean to
>>Montreal in approximately 17 days. The vessel continues another 114
>>km up the St Lawrence Seaway, passing through the Lachine locks, and
>>arriving at the port of Cornwall Ontario. . . . The land route takes
>>Highways 401, 416, 417 and 17 westbound to CRL. The estimated
>>Canadian distance for this route in 341 km, and the time required is
>>about 4 hours. The voyage from Montreal to Cornwall will take between
>>one and two days."
>>
>>excerpt from: "Canadian Transportation Plan for the PARALLEX
>>Project-St. Petersburg to Chalk River Shipment", AECL Document:
>>100-37000-TD-004 Revision 0, Page 14 of 26
>>
>>
>>
>>2) The Canadian portion of the Route from the US into Canada
>>
>>"Sault Ste. Marie, MI--Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
>>
>>This route crosses the border at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan--Sault
>>Ste. Marie, Ontario and runs east along the north shore of Lake Huron
>>on Highway 17 through Sudbury to North Bay, and continues on Highway
>>17 to CRL. The estimated Canadian distance for this route is 615 km,
>>and the time required is about 8 hours."
>>
>>
>>
>>---
>>
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