![\"138838_249363\"](\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-canada-stateless\/2018\/06\/138838_249363.jpg\")
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The Wynne government\u2019s willful blindness has left millions of Torontonians at risk.<\/p>\n
But we still have a chance to do something about it.<\/p>\n
With Fukushima, Chernobyl, and Three Mile Island, major nuclear accidents are happening about once a decade internationally.<\/p>\n
So it should be common sense to prepare worst-case nuclear emergencies, but it\u2019s not for the Ontario government. It pretends major nuclear accidents won\u2019t happen here.\u00a0 You could say it’s a policy of willful blindness.<\/p>\n
This is doubly wrongheaded considering the government operates 10 aging reactors in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) at the Pickering and Darlington nuclear stations.<\/p>\n
Think about it. \u00a0One in six Canadians live near the Pickering and Darlington stations. While 150,000 people were evacuated in a 20 km area around Fukushima, a similar evacuation around Pickering would displace over a million people.<\/p>\n
Scary, eh?<\/p>\n
The GTA\u2019s ever-growing population makes it arguably the most challenging nuclear community in North America to evacuate. I mean, you\u2019ve seen the Gardiner at rush hour, right?<\/p>\n
So what can we do to right this wrong?<\/p>\n
Well, the obvious solution would be to let Pickering and Darlington retire instead of spending billions to keep them running. \u00a0Invest the money instead in clean energy and conservation. Other countries are doing it. Ontario should too.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, we\u2019re not. The Wynne government has committed to spend over ten billion dollars to keep these reactors running since Fukushima. This was a bad decision that will needlessly produce more radioactive waste and block our transition to 100% renewables.<\/p>\n
But no matter one\u2019s view of nuclear power, you\u2019d think the Wynne government would have also done the responsible thing and ensured it could protect its citizens in the event of a major accident.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s what Switzerland is doing. Switzerland announced this summer it would put plans in place to protect their citizens in the event the most severe acciden<\/a>t on the International Nuclear Event Scale. That means an accident similar in size to Fukushima.<\/p>\n Switzerland will expand their emergency zones, prepare for large-scale evacuations, and ready themselves for the long-term care of evacuees in the event of an accident.<\/p>\n Commendably, they made this decision after the Swiss government consulted with affected communities. Those communities told the government they expect increased public safety in light of Fukushima.<\/p>\n But this is not the Ontario way. \u00a0This summer the Wynne government held a consultation on its nuclear emergency response plans, but it was timed so the City of Toronto couldn\u2019t contribute even though the city has voiced concerns about nuclear emergency preparedness in the past.<\/a><\/p>\n Toronto asked for the consultation be extended so it could contribute<\/a>, but the province refused.<\/p>\n This is, regrettably, unsurprising. \u00a0While spending billions to rebuild reactors, the Wynne government has been reluctant to talk about nuclear emergency response with anybody outside of the nuclear lobby since Fukushima.<\/p>\n And unfortunately, the nuclear industry seems to have had too much influence over the government\u2019s emergency planners. \u00a0While other countries are strengthening public safety, it took Ontario six years to write a Discussion Paper that effectively recommends we ignore Fukushima and change nothing.<\/a><\/p>\n That wasn\u2019t good enough for communities in Switzerland. So let\u2019s let our leaders know it isn\u2019t good enough for Toronto, either.<\/p>\n