One hundred public interest groups have written an open letter calling on the Ontario Government to direct Ontario Power Generation to withdraw the plan to bury nuclear waste at the Bruce Power site on Lake Huron.
The provincial government is the sole shareholder of OPG.
The authors of the open letter call the plan to bury radioactive waste in limestone deep underground, flawed. A federally appointed Joint Review Panel last week recommended the project go ahead. The letter points out that there are still too many unknown's in the design of the Deep Geologic Repository for low and medium level radioactive waste. It says no one has been able to calculate the rates of gas produced from deteriorating metals, when gas can create pressure that can cause fracturing. The authors also point out the the only other operating example of this type of storage facility is now closed following a fire and the release of radioactivity to the surface.
Bruce Power neighbour Eugene Bourgeois claims the federally appointed Joint Review Panel has teamed up with the nuclear industry to rush ahead with unproven technology.
“There are layers on layers of dishonesty at play here. This federal panel has now teamed up with the nuclear industry to rush ahead with unproven technologies to bury wastes OPG claims are being safely managed where they are, and to continue to ignore some of the most vulnerable and most hazardous wastes, like AECL’s shut-down reactor at Douglas Point,” says Bourgeois.
Radioactive waste specialist Kevin Kamps of the U.S. based group, Beyond Nuclear, says it makes no sense to bury the waste out of reach in hopes to keep the radiation isolated for hundreds of thousands of years. He claims the federal panel accepted Ontario Power Generation's testimony that Lake Huron would be large enough to dilute radioactive wastes if they leaked from the repository.
"That a federal hearing panel would accept using the Great Lakes for the dilution of radioactive pollution as a solution to the industry’s waste management problems robs their report of any credibility,” says Kamps.
The authors of the letter point out that OPG plans to double the original amount of 200,000 cubic metres of radioactive wastes to be stored there, and will seek an amendment to include wastes like radioactive reactor components and contaminated building material.
Click here to read: An_Open_Letter_to_the_Government_of_Ontario_15May2014_OPG_DGR
The letter is signed by:
Algoma Manitoulin Nuclear Awareness Algonquin Eco Watch Blue Water Coalition Against the Deep Geological Repositories Bruce Peninsula Environment Group (BPEG) Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility Canadian Environmental Law Association Citizens Concerned About Nuclear Waste in Elliot Lake Citizens Environment Alliance of southwestern Ontario Citizens’ Clearinghouse on Waste Management Concerned Citizens of Blind River Concerned Citizens of Hornepayne Concerned Citizens of Renfrew County Concerned Citizens of White River Durham Nuclear Awareness (DNA) Faith & The Common Good Friends of Bruce Grand River Environmental Network Greenpeace Canada Honey Harbour Fishing Club Ontario Power Generation’s Plan to Bury Nuclear Waste in Deep Underground Caverns Beside Lake Huron Must be Set Aside 4 Huron Grey Bruce Citizens Committee on Nuclear Wastes Inverhuron District Ratepayers Association Justice and Global Issues Committee, South East Presbytery, United Church of Canada Kawartha Truth and Reconciliation Support Group. Manitoulin Island Cycling Associates (MICA) MiningWatch Canada Nibi Emosaawdamajig Nipissing Environmental Watch Northwatch Ontario Clean Air Alliance Pax Christi Toronto Peterborough Greenspace Coalition Physicians for Global Survival Prevent Cancer Now Provincial Council of Women of Ontario Sacred Water Circle Save Our Saugeen Shores Science for Peace Sierra Club Ontario Chapter Sierra Club Canada Foundation Southampton Residents Association Temiskaming Environmental Action Committee The Council of Canadians The Inverhuron Committee The Kawartha Lakes Water Walkers The National Council of Women of Canada Veterans Against Nuclear Arms ZeroWaste4ZeroBurning Committee for Future Generations Council for Public Health in Mining Communities Inter-Church Uranium Committee Educational Cooperative (ICUCEC) les Artistes pour la Paix Maritime Aboriginal Peoples Council Sept-Iles Sans URANIUM Watershed Sentinel Educational Society (WSES) Binational Great Lakes Committee of the Sierra Club and the Sierra Club of Canada Foundation Alliance to Halt Fermi 3 Beyond Nuclear Cape Downwinders Citizens for Alternatives to Chemical Contamination Citizens' Resistance at Fermi 2 (CRAFT) Coalition Against Nukes Coalition for a Nuclear Free Great Lakes Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety Concerned Citizens of Big Bay Connecticut Coalition Against Millstone Crabshell Alliance Disarm / End Wars Committee, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom Don't Waste Michigan, Sherwood Chapter Environmentalists, Inc. Fairmont, MN Peace Group Heart of America Northwest Michigan Safe Energy Future - Shoreline Chapter (MSEF-SH) Michigan Safe Energy Future-Kalamazoo, MI Chapter Michigan Stop The Nuclear Bombs Campaign Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS) Nukewatch Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance Oglala Sioux Tribe Cultural Affairs and Historic Preservation Office Ohio CARE - Citizens Against a Radioactive Environment Pennsylvania Alliance for Clean Water and Air Physicians for Social Responsibility - Kansas City Portsmouth/Piketon Residents for Environmental Safety and Security (PRESS) Protect Our Manoomin Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center Saginaw Home for Peace and Justice Save Our Sky Blue Waters Sierra Club, Atlantic Chapter Sierra Club, Michigan Chapter Southwest Research and Information Center The Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists Social Justice Committee The Colorado Coalition for Prevention of Nuclear War The Helen Caldicott Foundation The Hiroshima Nagasaki Day Coalition Uranium Watch Vermont Citizens Action Network Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, U.S. Section/Earth Democracy Campaign BI Umweltschutz Lüchow - Dannenberg Platform Against Nuclear Dangers Salzburg WISE (World Information Service on Energy)