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Part 1 in the Series “What is nuclear waste and why be concerned?” By Valerie G. Barnes-Connell, The Northerner (Laronge SK), December 1, 2011 (This is the first in a public education series, from a scientific perspective, about nuclear waste taken from a presentation given by Dr. Gordon Edwards, one of Canadaʼs most eminent experts and critics of the nuclear industry and the co-founder of the Canadian Coalition on Nuclear Responsibility (CCNR), in Pinehouse Lake on Monday, Nov. 21.) Dr. Gordon Edwards, one of the founders of the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility, spoke in Pinehouse Lake on Monday, November 21. Edwards, a scientist, mathematician and educator from Montreal, is considered one of Canadaʼs foremost nuclear experts and critics. He spoke about the history of the nuclear industry in Canada, the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility, the Seaborn Panel, the creation of the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO), and his concerns, also making recommendations to the people of Pinehouse Lake and members of the Future Generations Committee in regard to the proposed nuclear storage deep repository. Pinehouse Lake is one of three Northern Saskatchewan communities considering the Nuclear Waste Management Organizationʼs (NWMO) Adaptive Phased Management approach to the storage of used nuclear fuel, which includes the establishment of a deep geologic depository. Members of the Future Generations Committee said they believe education is important in the exploration of the NWMO approach, and when they were unable to find funding to bring Edwards to Pinehouse Lake, the local chapter dipped into their own pockets. Members of the Future Generations Committee along with people from as far away as Regina, Saskatoon and Prince Albert attended the event. The Northerner will carry more information from Edwardsʼ presentation in the coming weeks. 1 Part 2 in the Series “What is nuclear waste and why be concerned?” By Valerie G. Barnes-Connell, The Northerner (Laronge SK), December 8, 2011 (This is the second in a public education series, from a scientific perspective, about nuclear waste taken from a presentation given by Dr. Gordon Edwards, one of Canadaʼs most eminent experts and critics of the nuclear industry and the co-founder of the Canadian Coalition on Nuclear Responsibility (CCNR), in Pinehouse Lake on Monday, Nov. 21.) Edwards graduated from the University of Toronto with a degree in science and math, receiving a gold medal in mathematics and physics. He holds a Ph.D. in mathematics. He taught in Montreal until his retirement and is one of the founders of the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility, founded in 1975. Edwards began by expressing a belief in the need for scientific public education on nuclear waste – what it is and how it came into existence. “Scientists should be doing education on this to make it more understandable, more accessible, to give [people] tools to understand enough to grapple with it…. Iʼm here to help in this difficult process of [grappling with] what seemed to come from outer space – a project that doesnʼt have any roots in the community,” he told the people gathered in Pinehouse Lake for his presentation, “ What is Nuclear Waste and What is the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO)? ” No actual solution exists for the nuclear waste problem, Edwards said. “I am quite sure that no one has an actual solution to the nuclear waste problem, there is no such thing as a solution…. The NWMO is not saying they have a solution, all they are saying is they have a long term management strategy.” Edwards talked about the atom and the uniqueness of the uranium atom, which “is the only material in nature from which [one] can draw a great deal of energy from the very heart of the atom, called the nucleus…. The energy comes from the core of the atom and is a very recent phenomenon in terms of human behaviour…. Harnessing that energy is the basis for all nuclear technology, whether military or civilian.” Up to 1970, uranium went into the building of bombs, although in 1965 the Canadian government decided uranium would only be sold for peaceful purposes thereafter. Edwards spoke of the early explosions allowed over the Nevada desert. “All the broken fragments of atoms from bombs exploded in the air come down as radioactive fallout all over the planet.” People were getting those materials into their bodies, and they are “very dangerous materials”. 2 He noted Nobel prize-winner Linus Pauling predicted [the fallout] would kill 96,000 people annually. People brought pressure and the United States stopped atmospheric testing, even though there was a Cold War on and there was no agreement from the former Soviet Union. Two years later, the United States and former Soviet Union signed a treaty “which stopped putting this stuff into the atmosphere. This is nuclear waste. What goes up in a mushroom cloud is nuclear waste.” The Canadian government is very careful and uses a lot of technology to contain nuclear waste, Edwards said. “The question is – technology is not always perfect, so what happens when it does get out? That is really the source of dispute over nuclear waste.” 3 Part 3 in the Series “What is nuclear waste and why be concerned?” By Valerie G. Barnes-Connell, The Northerner (Laronge SK), December 15, 2011 (This is the third in a public education series, from a scientific perspective, about nuclear waste taken from a presentation given by Dr. Gordon Edwards, one of Canadaʼs most eminent experts and critics of the nuclear industry and the co-founder of the Canadian Coalition on Nuclear Responsibility (CCNR), in Pinehouse Lake on Monday, Nov. 21.) Atoms usually remain very stable. A glass of water may contain atoms that were in dinosaurs hundreds of millions of years ago. They never change. But fission products, which come from the splitting of a uranium atom, are very unstable and “will explode suddenly at any given moment. They will ʻdisintegrateʼ, causing a problem for nearby living cells,” said Dr. Gordon Edwards, co-founder of the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility, speaking in Pinehouse Lake on Monday, Nov. 21. Fission products are one of the ingredients in nuclear waste. There are dozens of fission products, 211 of which are listed, Edwards said – although itʼs not a complete list – on the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibilityʼs website at www.ccnr.org . The moment of explosion (or disintegration) is when radioactive fission products are dangerous. “It can cause a wide variety of illnesses . but the damage generally shows up 20, 30, 40 years later.” The energy in uranium-bearing rock was discovered by a French scientist, Henri Becquerel. He found a piece of uranium ore, which he set aside in a drawer because he was curious about it. The drawer also contained some unexposed photographic paper wrapped protectively. After two weeks, when he happened to open the drawer, the photographic paper had been exposed. Becquerel had discovered a property of uranium ore. “He had discovered radioactivity. He did not know where this energy came from. In fact, to this day, it is still quite unexplained where this energy comes from.” Another scientist, a chemist living in France, Marie Curie, won two Nobel medals for her work with radioactivity; she discovered the elements ʻradiumʼ and ʻpoloniumʼ [contained in the uranium-bearing rock]. Radium she named for the rays it gave off, and polonium, for her native Poland. 4 Part 4 in the Series “What is nuclear waste and why be concerned?” By Valerie G. Barnes-Connell, The Northerner (Laronge SK), January 19, 2012 (This is the fourth in a public education series, from a scientific perspective, about nuclear waste taken from a presentation given by Dr. Gordon Edwards, one of Canadaʼs most eminent experts and critics of the nuclear industry and the co-founder of the Canadian Coalition on Nuclear Responsibility (CCNR), in Pinehouse Lake on Monday, Nov. 21.) The fourth and fifth columns take the form of a glossary of nuclear terms courtesy of Dr. Gordon Edwards. THE ATOM AND ITS NUCLEUS Atom : the smallest possible portion of a pure chemical element; it has a tiny but massive core called the nucleus, surrounded by orbiting electrons. In popular literature, it is often pictured as being like a miniature solar system. Nucleus : the central core of an atom, containing subatomic particles called protons and neutrons held very tightly together. The number of protons determines the chemical properties (and the chemical name) of the atom. Nuclei: the plural of nucleus – one nucleus, two nuclei. Proton : a tiny subatomic particle with a positive electrical charge. Itʼs about 2000 times heavier than an electron, which carries a negative electric charge. Positive and negative charges attract each other. Neutron : a tiny subatomic particle with no electrical charge, having exactly the same mass as a proton. Nucleon : Protons and neutrons are sometimes called “nucleons”. Uranium atom : any atom whose nucleus contains exactly 92 protons. Lighter elements have smaller numbers of protons: hydrogen has one proton, helium has two, lithium has 3, and so on, until we reach uranium with 92 protons. Uranium is the heaviest of the 92 elements found in nature Isotopes : If two atoms have the same number of protons but different numbers of neutrons, they are called different isotopes of the same element. Uranium isotopes : There are two isotopes of uranium found in nature, called uranium- 235 and uranium-238. The numbers indicate the total number of nucleons in the nucleus (e.g. uranium-238 has 92 protons + 146 neutrons). 5 RADIOACTIVITY Radioactivity : a property of unstable atoms, causing them to suddenly and violently emit a bullet-like projectile – alpha, beta, or gamma – that can damage living cells, either killing them or making them develop abnormally.

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