Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission hearings on the issue of radioactive shipments on the Great Lakes are taking place in Ottawa today.
At this moment, Council of Canadians researcher Emma Lui is presenting on our behalf.
CBC reported yesterday that, “Environmental groups are accusing the federal government of abdicating its responsibility to protect Canadians by not acting against an Ontario nuclear utility’s proposed plan to ship radioactive waste through the Great Lakes. The groups say allowing Bruce Power to ship 16 radioactive steam generators the size of school buses through the lakes and across the Atlantic Ocean for processing in Sweden sets a dangerous precedent. They say it could open the way for more nuclear waste to be moved on Canadian waterways.”
The Toronto Star reports today that, “It would be the first time nuclear waste materials would be transported by road and waterway out of Canada.”
The Globe and Mail adds, “Concerns about nuclear waste have long been an Achilles heel for the nuclear industry. Canada has six reactor sites… They must store their high-level nuclear waste on site is a manner that is meant to be temporary. Efforts to find a permanent storage site are moving slowly as officials try to build acceptance in communities that might receive the waste, and those through which the waste would be transported. …The nuclear industry is eager to see new reactors constructed across North America… but questions remain about the long-term fate of its radioactive waste material.” This is why there is the concern that the Great Lakes could become a ‘highway for radioactive waste’ beyond these proposed shipments.
NDP Member of Parliament Nathan Cullen stated at a press conference yesterday, “The nuclear industry will say this is safe. But accidents, of course, happen.”
A decision is expected from the CNSC on Bruce Power’s application before mid-November.
To respond to our ‘ACTION ALERT: Stop the shipment of radioactive components through the Great Lakes’, please go to http://canadians.org/campaignblog/?p=4410.
A transcript of the presentation made by Emma Lui, Researcher for the Council of Canadians, to the Canadian Nuclear Commission is available at http://www.cnsc-ccsn.gc.ca/eng/commission/pdf/2010-09-29-Transcript-HearingBrucePowerSG-Edocs3617859.pdf (page 114-123 of the document and the questions to the staff as well as final comment continue through to page 135).
The webcasts is also online at http://www.nuclearsafety.gc.ca/eng/commission/webcasts/september-28-30-2010_steam-generator-transport.cfm (Oral presentations by intervenors, morning, September 29, 2010).
