Certain anti-nuclear signs throughout the Flin Flon area are not necessarily illegal, despite what members of a local committee studying radioactive waste storage have asserted.
At their meeting last week, the Community Liaison Committee voted to ask area municipalities to remove public signs that use the international symbol for radiation on the grounds they are inappropriate or illegal.
But Canada’s nuclear waste regulator says use of the radiation symbol in the absence of radiation is only against the law in some circumstances.
Regulations
In a statement to The Reminder, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) said the symbol – known as the trefoil – is covered by Section 23 of its regulations.
That section states: “No person shall post or keep posted a sign that indicates that presence of radiation, a nuclear substance or prescribed equipment at a place where the radiation, nuclear substances or prescribed equipment indicated on the sign is not present.”
In its statement, the CNSC said that in order for Section 23 to apply, there must be a “reasonable belief” that radiation, nuclear substance or prescribed equipment is actually present.
“Therefore, in order for this to fall under Section 23, there needs to be evidence that a sign or the posting of a sign would indicate that there is the presence of radiation, nuclear substance or prescribed equipment,” said the CNSC. “If there is reasonable belief that the sign or the posting of the sign will lead people to falsely believe that there is the presence of radiation, nuclear substance or prescribed equipment in a place, then this would be a concern to the CNSC.
“However, if this is simply a statement being made and by seeing the sign people do not believe that there is the presence of radiation, nuclear substance or prescribed equipment in the place where the sign is located, then Section 23 does not apply.”
Thus the legality of trefoil-bearing anti-nuclear waste signs – even ones taped to telephone poles or stapled to bank billboards – remains an open question.
The Community Liaison Committee voted 4-3 to write letters to the municipalities of Creighton, Flin Flon and Denare Beach to urge them to remove signs that depict the trefoil.
Committee members in favour of the motion stressed that while opponents have the right to speak against nuclear waste, the trefoil is reserved for sites where radioactive material is actually present.
