I Admit to Having Mixed Feelings

Over the last few weeks there has been a growing movement against the plan to store, spent nuclear waste here in Saskatchewan.

Petitions have been visible at most public event and a walk against nuclear waste, left Northern Saskatchewan on July 27 heading for the provincial legislature in Regina. The trek, a 820 kilometre walk, arrived in Regina yesterday. They will present a petition to someone at the legislature, I assume today.

Their Facebook site says "The purpose of our Walk is to wake people up to the reality that northern Saskatchewan is being targeted to store millions of used nuclear bundles which would be highly radioactive for hundreds of thousands of years. We will carry a petition to the Legislature that people may sign, directing the government to legislate a ban on nuclear waste storage and transportation in our province."

Well, Northern Saskatchewan is where that stuff came from to begin with.

I am not a big supporter of nuclear energy. We can't trust governments to tell us what is safe and what is not. It all makes me a bit nervous to be honest. And it didn't make me feel any better learning that some of the fuel "spilled" in the Japan nuclear disaster most likely originated in Saskatchewan.

I haven't signed the petition however.  I can't help but think it is a bit hypocritical for us to take the huge uranium mining royalty revenue to fund provincial services, to promote the jobs created by uranium mining with much fanfare, to ship that uranium elsewhere for it to be processed as fuel. Then, when the  fuel is spent, wash our hands of it and refuse to deal with storage.

Just saying.