Minister must explain release of radioactive gas

OTTAWA – 13,000 litres of tritium laced water vapour was purposely vented into the surrounding atmosphere of the Ottawa Valley, after months of the Federal Government reassuring Canadians that leaks at the Chalk River facility were fixed.

“This is completely unacceptable. Minister Raitt stood up in the House of Commons and reassured Canadians that these leaks had stopped,” said New Democrat Natural Resource critic, Nathan Cullen. “Now we find out that they have been actively releasing this radioactive vapour into the atmosphere. The Minister has a lot of explaining to do.”

Published reports said that 20% of the NRU’s 65,000 litres of heavy water evaporated during the draining process and was released into the surrounding atmosphere over a two month span to keep the toxic gas from building up in the facility.

“Atomic Energy of Canada’s own ‘action level’ for tritium is 50 terabecquerels weekly and they were releasing more than twice that amount a week,” said Cullen. “Tritium is a known carcinogen; I find it hard to understand why the government thought that this would simply be okay.”

“People living along the Ottawa River and downwind from Chalk River have been worried for years about tritium in their air and drinking water,” said Ottawa Centre MP Paul Dewar. “Both Europe and the US have far more strict regulations in tritium exposure. Harper’s government needs to get serious about this substance as well.”

Both MPs are calling on the Minister to release the full amount of tritium that was released and ensure that proper testing of the surrounding area is conducted with results made public.

“This is a major radioactive contamination,” said Cullen. “Just because it was released voluntarily doesn’t mean that there won’t be serious reproductions from this leak.”