[You can use this letter as a starting point and make changes to make it your own. For example, add a paragraph at the beginning to introduce yourself and your key concern(s) and change the wording throughout the letter to make it different from the comments sent by others who are also using this template as their starting point.]
I am writing to express my concern about the Nuclear Waste Management Organization’s proposed deep geological repository for nuclear fuel waste which the NWMO is proposing to construct and operate between Ignace and Dryden in northwestern Ontario.
While I have many concerns about the project itself and the NWMO’s method of selecting the site and their site selection, my comments are on the Impact Assessment review process which began on January 5th and the NWMO’s “initial project description”.
The 30-day comment period is too short. Many people who are concerned about this project, including the transportation of the radioactive waste to the site, will not have even heard about the comment period and for those of us who were alerted to the comment period it is a very short period of time to comment on the initial project description. This is an important project that will have impacts far, far into the future. The review process must be thorough and allow public participation, and a 30-day comment period works against that.
The project description is poorly done and leaves out important information about the project. For one, the NWMO is trying to persuade the Impact Assessment Agency that transportation can be left out of the review after describing transportation as part of their project for more than twenty years.
LONG-DISTANCE TRANSPORTATION MUST BE INCLUDED IN THE PROJECT REVIEW.
The NWMO also provides too little information about project activities, including those project activities that pose radiological risk for the workers and for residents in the area and downstream from the project site. There is not enough information about the Used Fuel Packaging Plant, how the wastes will be transferred into the underground and placed in the emplacement rooms, how the containers will be monitored after they are underground, and how they will be retrieved or repaired in the event of a container failing.
THE NWMO MUST BE REQUIRED TO PROVIDE A DETAILED PROJECT DESCRIPTION.
I am requesting that this project be the subject of a full impact assessment including a public hearing, and that the Impact Assessment Agency ensure that the public is able to participate in a meaningful way through each step of the process.
Thank you for considering my comments and concerns.
[Your name; consider also adding your location]
We the Nuclear Free North 