With a nuclear power plant planned for west of Peace River, local residents were given a first-hand account of the negative and unhealthy affects in surrounding areas that have lasted for many decades in a community in Ontario. “Particulate emissions from nuclear plants travel thousands of kilometres and would definitely hinder the Smoky River region,” says Pat McNamara, a former resident of Port Hope, Ontario, who addressed about 50 people in Falher at Club Alouette at a meeting hosted by Peace River Environmental Society on Jan. 23. “It might put you more in the plume than if you are closer.” The society continues to voice its opposition to a proposal by Energy Alberta Corporation Limited (AECL) and Bruce Power to construct a nuclear power plant west of Peace River at Lac Cardinal. Residents and communities play a major part in the application process, he says. “Don’t think it’s hopeless – it’s not a done deal,” says McNamara. A provincial petition against nuclear power in Alberta may be signed in Falher at Nu Natural Health Foods Store. He encouraged communities to work together to protect their lives and communities from nuclear damage, and to ask the hard questions to applicants. “Don’t just take AECL’s word for it,” says McNamara, 54, who moved to Grande Prairie last year to get away from the nuclear problems, and the author of “Port Hope – Canada’s Nuclear Wasteland”. “If we’re going to protect our communities, we have to ask the tough questions.” “If they can’t answer the questions, how can they be competent to build and operate a nuclear power plant?” He also urges people to get all the information before taking a position on nuclear power. Information is available at libraries in Falher and McLennan. Ultimately the final decision rests with the Government of Canada, he says. “We have to take this battle to the federal government – the federal government is the nuclear industry,” says McNamara. The federal government protects the nuclear industry more than the health of residents and communities, he adds, and government is very silent on telling the true story of the unhealthy effects of the industry. Nuclear power is not required in Alberta which, he says, currently has more electricity supply than it needs. “Instead of putting in a nuclear plant in Lac Cardinal, I suggest we go to the oilsands companies and ask them to install a larger co-generation unit to help us meet the increased demand of power, and they can sell the power back to the province,” says McNamara. “If we reduced the energy use in our homes, we can also meet energy demands.” “These are just two options we could do to eliminate the need for nuclear reactors,” says McNamara. The book, which he says is an easy read but hard to stomach, tells the story of the nuclear violation of Port Hope by the federal government. “This book is about the residents of Port Hope (Ontario) screaming out for protection from the Canadian government,” says McNamara. “Our elected officials and the nuclear regulatory bodies have sacrificed the health of Port Hope residents to protect the nuclear industry since the start of the atomic age in the 1940s.” “Uranium ore and its waste products have been hauled along our streets and processed in our harbour since 1932.” “It’s hard to accept that our Canadian government has knowingly been harming and killing our children and our friends in Port Hope for over 60 years to keep its actions secret.” That statement, he adds, is backed up through a health study report from Dr. Eric Mintz’s in 2004 known as “A critique of the 2002 Mortality Study for Port Hope. That study suggests that children have experienced high cancer rates particularly prior to 1986 and that the patter of cancer rates in children is “consistent with effects from the higher exposures before remediation.” The Port Hope Community Health Concerns Committee reports on its website (porthopehealth concerns.com) that abour 3.5 million cubic metres of radioactive and heavy metal waste remains within the boundaries of the Municipality of Port Hope at numerous sites, awaiting proper long-term storage. To date, however, there has been no funding available to the community of Port Hope for comprehensive independent health studies despite the $260,000,000 to be spent by the federal government to manage this low-level waste and develop long-term storage options.