CNSC response to the editorial 'Wind power is healthy' published in the Windsor Star on January 6, 2011

To the editor:

I’m compelled to respond to Gideon Forman’s groundless statements on the health impacts of nuclear energy in his January 6 editorial “Wind power is healthy.”

Studies have shown over and over that people living near nuclear power plants are as healthy as the rest of the population.

When Forman mentions the 2008 German study, he fails to tell you that both its authors and the German Radiological Protection Commission specifically ruled out radiation as a reason for the presence of some clusters of childhood leukemia near the nuclear plants.

Recent British and French epidemiological studies that used the same methodology as the German study did not find any increase in risk of childhood cancer in people living near their respective nuclear facilities.

All industrial activities have some form of releases to the environment; nuclear has a regulator that ensures operations are safe. I would like to reinforce that the very small controlled releases of nuclear facilities do not pose any risk to people and the environment.

Finally, nuclear waste is not a burden for future generations. In fact, it is safely stored and managed. Furthermore, Canada's nuclear regulator requires nuclear facility operators to maintain adequate financial guarantees to cover the costs associated with the long-term management of the waste they produced. Guarantees are an important condition of the companies' licences and the CNSC would never grant a licence without having that in place.

I invite your readers to visit our Web site at nuclearsafety.gc.ca to get the facts about Canada’s nuclear sector.

Michael Binder
President
Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission