At Home: N.B. eyed as nuclear storage facility

The phrase “not in my backyard” may be taking on a whole new meaning for New Brunswick residents soon: Canada’s Nuclear Waste Management Organization is looking at the province as a potential storage site for nuclear waste.

The NWMO is touring several cities in the province, seeking public feedback as it searches for a place to store all of Canada’s used uranium.

The geology of potential sites is a major factor, and as this CBC article explains, new research has shown that “a nuclear storage site could be located outside of a mountainous area, such as the Canadian shield.”

Four provinces are currently considered “nuclear,” meaning that they either use nuclear reactors to generate power (New Brunswick, Ontario, Quebec) or mine uranium (Saskatchewan).

The NWMO isn’t looking at specific storage sites yet; instead, it’s still discussing options with “provinces that could host such a facility.”

Jo-Ann Facella, of the NWMO, told reporters, “It’s our understanding that most of the geology of the four provinces that we are visiting is potentially suitable for a used fuel repository.”

Jack Keir, New Brunswick’s energy minister, has said he’s interested in what the province’s citizens think of building a nuclear waste facility there. No matter which province is chosen, the storage site will be a boon to the economy. According to the NWMO, the province that’s selected will receive an investment of between $16 billion and $24 billion.

In Foreign News: Indian students in Australia find safety in numbers against growing attacks

Increasingly, Indian students in Australia are finding themselves the victims of violent, often racially motivated, attacks and are organizing for their own protection. The attacks frequently occur on Australia’s train system while the students are making their way home at night after classes.

As The Age reports, students and workers have gathered at St. Albans station in the western suburbs every night during the past week. After repeated attacks and “racist taunts and abuse on trains,” the students have despaired of police or rail officials coming to their aid and have been forced to find safety in numbers.

Gary Singh, one of a crowd of mostly Indian men who had gathered at the station, told reporters that police have repeatedly failed to take action when summoned for help, and train inspectors turn a blind eye to attacks.

The men’s strategy is to maintain a strong presence at the train station each night from 9:30 until the last train. They also plan to assign smaller groups to various street corners to thwart attacks.

Mr. Singh said that a long knife was recently flashed at him and two friends. However, when he called the police and pointed out the assailants, “the police didn’t check on them, they just told us to go home.”

“We are not giving up,” he said.”We are here to save our friends. We are not getting any protection from police or from the railways.”

Other attacks have been more serious. One student told reporters that a former roommate was “badly beaten on his way home 18 months ago.” In a separate incident, the student was assaulted and punched by a group of five youths, and police took an hour and a half to arrive.

The Age reported that, in the latest known attack, an Indian youth was leaving the station on May 31 and was assaulted and had his head cut open. The paper also noted that “passing cars slowed down and occupants yelled out [racial] abuse” even as reporters were interviewing students about other incidents.

In what is perhaps the most high-profile case, a 17-year-old is facing three counts of attempted murder after Indian student Shravan Kumar was stabbed with a screwdriver. Concerned Australians have raised donations to fly his parents to Melbourne to see their injured son.