Dear Ministers Wynne, Wilkinson and Duguid: I am writing to request that the Ontario government oppose the shipment of radioactive waste through the Great Lakes. On Friday February 4th, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission approved an application from Bruce Power to ship 16 bus-size radioactive steam generators from Owen Sound to Nyköping, Sweden. In April 2010, Bruce Power applied for a special licence with the CNSC because the shipment failed to meet packaging requirements set out in the CNSC’s Packaging and Transport of Nuclear Substances Regulations (PTNSR). The radioactivity of the steam generators is 50 times greater than the legal limits set out by the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material. This will set a dangerous precedent for radioactive waste shipments on the Great Lakes and will pave the way for the transport of more than 100 million pounds of highly radioactive waste currently stored on site at the Bruce, Pickering and Darlington nuclear power plants. The nuclear industry is considering disposal sites in Saskatchewan and Northern Ontario which would mean approximately 19,080 road shipments through the most densely populated areas of Southern Ontario and across thousands of kilometres of northern Ontario highways. Shipping it across the Great Lakes to a Lake Superior port would avoid road transport through vote-rich areas in southern Ontario but it would mean more than 700 shiploads of highly radioactive waste over 30 years. There is more at stake here than meets the eye. There has been widespread opposition to this plan from city mayors, senators, First Nation communities, local residents and social justice, environmental and women’s organizations. Public consultation has been inadequate and many questions remain unanswered. An environmental assessment was conducted in 2006 that approved leaving the steam generators on site but Bruce Power and the CNSC argues that they don’t need a new EA to ship this waste to Europe. The Great Lakes holds nearly 20% of the world’s freshwater. They provide drinking water to 40 million people in surrounding areas. This shipment poses a serious threat to the Great Lakes, the North Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea and other bodies of water. The Great Lakes are part of the global commons (a shared entity), a public trust and should be a protected bioregion. Any harm to water is a harm to the whole including present and future generations. To date, the provincial government has failed to take responsibility for this shipment. I urge the Ontario government to do all in its power to stop these shipments and hold public forums to ensure adequate public consultation. Sincerely,

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