Nuclear experts raise new concerns about industry-led policy proposals to separate plutonium in Canada
Les experts nucléaires expriment de nouvelles inquiétudes au sujet d'un projet de politique visant à autoriser la séparation du plutonium au Canada
News Release /  Communiqué - 25 September 2023
Montreal - Twelve internationally recognized nuclear experts have sent an open letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, expressing new concerns over nuclear weapons proliferation risks associated with a government-funded nuclear reprocessing project in New Brunswick.

The authors cite new information obtained through Access to Information. They quote from recently released internal documents that reveal a governmental “policy-making process on reprocessing in collaboration with the international CANDU Owners Group (COG)”.

Read letter HERE    Read Release HERE
Montréal -  Douze experts nucléaires de renommée internationale ont envoyé une lettre ouverte au Premier ministre Justin Trudeau, exprimant de nouvelles inquiétudes quant aux risques de prolifération des armes nucléaires associés à un projet de retraitement nucléaire financé par le gouvernement au Nouveau-Brunswick.

Les auteurs citent de nouvelles informations obtenues grâce à l'accès à l'information. Ils citent des documents internes récemment publiés qui révèlent un "processus d'élaboration de politiques sur le retraitement en collaboration avec le groupe international des propriétaires de CANDU (COG)". 

Lettre ICI   Communiqué ICI
In 2020 Canada embarked on a review of its radioactive waste policy. Hundreds of civil society organizations, Indigenous peoples and concerned Canadians engaged with Natural Resources Canada, and thousands of Canadians called for a ban on reprocessing of nuclear waste. The draft policy, released in February 2022, weakly stated that reprocessing is to be “subject to policy approval by the Government of Canada”.  
3 April 2023
Civil Society Groups Reject Canada’s Radioactive Waste Policy
​Ottawa – Civil society groups are expressing profound disappointment in the federal government’s recently released radioactive waste policy, after Natural Resources Canada quietly posted the final policy to a government website on Friday morning.
Organizations who were intensively engaged in the policy development process between November 2020 and May 2022 are calling the policy a handover to the nuclear industry and say it fails to meet international standards or the public’s expectations.
“It is a fundamental failure. It leaves the industry in charge and the public and the environment at risk. This policy is a betrayal of science and public trust," said Dr. Ole Hendrickson, for the Sierra Club Canada Foundation.
SEE NUCLEAR WASTE WATCH  RELEASE HERE. Canadian Environmental Law Association release is HERE
Click on Policy for Radioactive Waste and Decommissioning (the Policy), March 2023 for the final policy.

CANADA MUST BAN REPROCESSING

The nuclear industry refers to extracting plutonium from nuclear fuel waste as “reprocessing” or “recycling.” ​It is highly contaminating, practiced in only a few countries, and is linked to nuclear proliferation and nuclear weapons. Reprocessing is a dirty, dangerous distraction from real climate action. 
Canada's review of radioactive waste policy began in 2020. 
​Before it ends, Canada must include a ban of reprocessing nuclear waste.
We call on the government of Canada to explicitly ban plutonium reprocessing in Canada.
We call on the government of Canada to explicitly ban plutonium reprocessing in Canada.  We urge members of the public to echo this message to members of Parliament and the Canadian cabinet.  Watch Theresa McClenaghan's message HERE
Send a message to Prime Minister Trudeau :
 We call on the government of Canada to explicitly ban plutonium reprocessing in Canada. We urge members of the public to echo this message to members of Parliament and the Canadian cabinet.

Use our newest action alert, email Prime Minister Trudeau a personal message at  [email protected] and call his Ottawa office at 613-992-4211.
On December 15th Nuclear Waste Watch launched a campaign to formally demand that Canada includes a ban on plutonium reprocessing in its radioactive waste policy.
Canada will release its policy on managing radioactive waste in early 2023. A draft policy for public comment released in February 2022 says that "deployment of reprocessing technology... is subject to policy approval by the Government of Canada" but does not take a clear position opposing this technology. 
​
Please join us in sending a clear message: BAN REPROCESSING IN CANADA NOW!
Every two weeks the Ban Reprocessing campaign issues an E-Bulletin, with Campaign news, events and actions alerts.To read the  E-Bulletins click below.
Click on an image below to view one of Nuclear Waste Watch's Reprocessing campaign webinars. Related resources are HERE
Click on an image below to view the Ban Reprocessing campaign video​s
Read our December 15 2022 news release about the campaign launch HERE.
There has never been commercial reprocessing in Canada. The limited reprocessing done at the federal government's Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories has left a legacy of nuclear contamination.

Canada is currently reviewing its radioactive waste policy. The revised policy must include a formal prohibition on nuclear fuel waste reprocessing in Canada.
BRIEFERS - KEY POINTS ON TOP TOPICS
Nuclear Waste Watch is a national alliance of groups concerned about nuclear waste in Canada. Nuclear Waste Watch has joined with our allies in the peace, women's, environmental  and social justice movements to address the threat of nuclear proliferation, including through the reprocessing of nuclear fuel waste to extract plutonium.