Accessibility and Access Keys [0]
Pembroke activists slammed a Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission decision that allows an Ottawa-area company to resume making glow-in-the-dark signs using a radioactive substance.
The decision, announced late last week, gives SRB Technologies Canada a two-year licence to restart processing operations with tritium, a radioactive substance. For the last year and a half, the company had been able to possess, but not process, the substance due to the commission’s concerns over the company’s provisions to protect the environment.
The commission’s decision came following two days of public hearings in Ottawa on April 3 and June 12.
“We are very disappointed,” said Ole Hendrickson, a researcher and spokesman with the Concerned Citizens of Renfrew County. “We don’t think the commission has yet fully appreciated the seriousness of the health risks associated with tritium.”
Critics fear the tritium contamination can lead to everything from cancers to birth defects. They say a comprehensive health study is needed, comparing residents living near the facility to those living further away to fully determine the impact of the substance.
For its part, the commission noted that SRB Technologies Canada will make adequate provision for the protection of the environment, the health and safety of persons and the maintenance of national security.
“The commission notes that the SRBT has to continue to demonstrate that it is qualified to carry on the activities.”
The company said in its submissions that it had developed an environmental monitoring network and reviewed its business strategy to determine the operation that would best protect the environment.
Overall, the commission said it is satisfied with the firm’s handling of “past deficiencies.”
Nuclear safety staff also noted that tritium doses to which Pembroke citizens would be exposed are well below any dose known to result in health effects.
Permission to resume processing with tritium is a big win for the firm. The loss of its licence in Feb. 1, 2007 had a profound impact, with staff dropping from 40 employees to 15.
The company uses tritium to manufacture highly specialized products. These include signs and lights that can be illuminated without electricity, like those used on airport runways.