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Could it be the final act? Once Congress is back in session, U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee said he plans to introduce a congressional resolution that opposes Canadian plans to build an underground nuclear waste dump less than a mile from Lake Huron.
Taking his stand aboard a ship moored in Bay City, Kildee announced a measure calling on President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry to “ensure that the Canadian government does not permanently store nuclear waste in the Great Lake Basin.”
“As Michiganders, we know that our Great Lakes are an invaluable and precious resource that we must protect now and for future generations,” Kildee said. “That’s why Canada’s proposed plan to permanently store millions of tons of radioactive waste near Lake Huron is so troubling and why we must take action to ensure such a storage facility is never built so close to our shared water resources.”
Ontario Power Generation has applied for a license to construct a low- and intermediate level radioactive nuclear waste facility at the Bruce Nuclear Power Plant, which sits on the shore of Lake Huron, in the municipality of Kincardine, a couple hours north of the Blue Water bridge.
If approved by Canada’s federal government, OPG will construct a deep geologic repository (DGR), consisting of burial caverns carved out of limestone and shale rock formations, less than a mile inland from the shore of Lake Huron and about 440 yards below the Great Lakes basin.
The nuclear waste to be stored at this site would not include spent nuclear fuel.
On its website, OPG has assured the Kincardine residents and others seeking information about the proposed dump that their team of geologists, engineers, hydrologists and others have studied the proposed project for many years.
This is not the first plan, however. Previously, OPG sought a license to ship 16 huge radioactively contaminated steam generators on a barge from Owen Sound, Ontario, down the St. Clair River and on to a recycling facility in Sweden. It was fiercely opposed by hundreds of environmental groups, First Nation communities, and almost 300 municipalities. Critics admit something needs to be done but argue why not a little farther away from the well.
“Nuclear waste is highly toxic and can take tens of thousands of years to decompose,” Kildee said. “Storing it less than a mile from the Great Lakes would jeopardize billions of dollars in economic activity every year that comes from the fishing, boating and tourism industries. Such nuclear waste storage would also threaten our livelihood and way of life as Michiganders.”
The Great Lakes constitute the largest group of freshwater lakes on earth, comprising more than a fifth of the world’s freshwater resources. Not to mention 40 million people in both the U.S. and Canada depend on fresh water from the Great Lakes for drinking water. “It’s too big of a risk to take and my congressional resolution seeks to ensure that a permanent nuclear waste site would not be located in our Great Lakes Basin,” Kildee said.