Canada Approves Nuclear Waste Shipment

By
Gabriel Caplett
– 02/08/2011

from Michigan Messenger:

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission has approved a controversial plan to ship radioactive waste from Ontario’s Bruce Nuclear Generating Station through the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence seaway.

On Friday the commission announced that Bruce Power will be allowed to ship 16 school-bus sized decommissioned steam generators to Sweden to be recycled.

An organization of mayors from the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence region and environmental groups on both sides of the border condemned the decision.

“This shipment contains more than 6 times – and arguably more than 50 times – the maximum
amount of radioactivity allowed by [International Atomic Energy Agency] regulations,“ said Dr. Gordon Edwards, president of the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility. “Because of this, the CNSC had to make a “Special Arrangement” exempting Bruce Power from those IAEA regulations.”

“By bending the rules, the CNSC has demonstrated that they are champions of the nuclear industry rather than defenders of the public interest – for there is no public benefit to be served by allowing these shipments.”

“… The timing of the shipment will be determined once all of the approvals are in place and conditions are determined to be optimal,” Bruce Power said in a statement.

This post was written by

Gabriel Caplett – who has written 106 posts on Headwaters - Community Journalism for the Great Lakes.

Gabriel Caplett is a writer and market farmer from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

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