US Sen. Kirk: Halt Storage of Nuke Waste near Great Lakes

[Oscar]

US Senator Kirk Urges President to Halt Canadian Proposal to Store Nuclear Waste Near Great Lakes

[ http://www.kirk.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=1421 ]

From: Gordon Edwards
Sent: Sunday, June 7, 2015 11:23 AM
Subject: Media Release: US Senator Kirk Urges President to Halt Canadian Proposal to Store Nuclear Waste Near Great Lakes

Background June 7 2015

Storing nuclear waste beside the Great Lakes for a short period of time is bad enough, but the current proposal is to abandon those wastes in underground caverns made of limestone, less than a mile from Lake Huron, hoping they will remain safely sequestered for the next million years or so without the benefit of monitoring, and without any plans for retrieving the waste.

Ontario Power Generation (OPG) is wholly owned by the Government of Ontario. OPG wants to bury and abandon all the nuclear wastes from all 20 of its nuclear power reactors, excluding the irradiated nuclear fuel, but including all the bulky contaminated equipment and highly radioactive core components -- all the radioactive rubble left over from the demolition of these geriatric reactors at the end of their lifetime.

The only reason the Lake Huron site is chosen is this: it is convenient to the nuclear industry. Nuclear reactors are always sited near lots of water because a huge throughput of water is needed to keep the core cool enough to continue operating. That's why the Bruce nuclear power complex -- the largest nuclear station in North America -- is perched so close to Lake Huron.

Nuclear waste dumps, on the other hand, ought to be sited far away from major water bodies -- because water is the biggest single threat to the safe long-term storage of nuclear waste. Water floods underground mines, corrodes containers, promotes chemical reactions, generates gas pressure, and carries radioactive poisons back into the environment and into the food chain.

Of all places to dump nuclear wastes, the Great Lakes drainage basin would seem to be one of the very worst.

Gordon Edwards, President
Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility
http://www.ccnr.org

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Senator Kirk Urges President to Halt Canadian Proposal to Store Nuclear Waste Near Great Lakes

[ http://www.kirk.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=1421 ]

Proposal Would Store 7 Million Cubic Feet of Nuclear Waste Less Than a Mile From Great Lakes

Media Release May 22, 2015

CHICAGO – U.S. Senator Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) sent a letter to President Obama expressing serious concern with a proposed nuclear waste repository in Canada, which would be located less than a mile away from the Great Lakes and is currently under review by the Canadian government. The Ontario Power Generation’s (OPG) proposal would store 7 million cubic feet of nuclear waste for thousands of years at their Bruce Nuclear Station on Lake Huron. Senator Kirk urged the President to work with the Canadian government to delay final approval of the project while calling for an environmental review by the International Joint Commission (IJC), an independent organization established by the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909 for cooperative management of our shared Great Lakes. In May, Canada’s Environmental Review Panel recommended the project be approved. Now, under Canadian law, Canada’s Environmental Minister has until September 4, 2015, to determine whether or not to authorize the facility’s construction.

“As co-chair of the Senate Great Lakes Task Force, I am fighting to keep our lakes free from toxins that could harm our precious ecological system and threaten the drinking water source for more than 30 million Americans,” Senator Kirk said. “Storing nuclear waste underground along the shores of the Great Lakes directly jeopardizes the wellbeing of this shared natural resource, and I urge the President to work with the Canadian Government to postpone this decision and protect our lakes for generations to come.”

History of Opposition:

Sent letters in 2011 and 2013 expressing concerns with Ontario Power Generation’s proposal
2011: [ http://www.kirk.senate.gov/pdfs/Ontario ... 20site.pdf ]
2013: [ http://www.kirk.senate.gov/pdfs/GLTF%20 ... 202013.pdf ]

September 18, 2014 – Introduced a resolution of disapproval for the project (S.Res.565)
[ https://www.congress.gov/bill/113th-con ... 5%22%5D%7D ]

April 13, 2015 – Introduced a resolution of disapproval for the site (S.Res.134)
[ https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-con ... lution/134 ]

Text of the letter can be seen below:

May 22, 2015

The Honorable Barack H. Obama
President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear President Obama,

I urge you to engage the Canadian government and International Joint Commission (IJC) to address a recent threatening proposal to permanently store toxic nuclear waste under the Great Lakes Basin, the source of safe drinking water for 30 million Americans and one of our most precious natural resources. On May 6, 2015, Canada’s Joint Review Panel issued an Environmental Assessment Report and recommended approval of Ontario Power Generation’s (OPG) proposal to permanently store toxic nuclear waste less than one mile from the shores of Lake Huron. This matter presents an immediate threat to all the Great Lakes, and I ask you to use all diplomatic means available to urge the Canadian government to delay its decision-making process until the proposal has been given all due consideration by the IJC.

Under Canadian law, Canada’s Environment Minister, Leona Aglukkaq, has 120 days following the review panel recommendation to make a final authorization decision. As a permanent repository, the Kincardine, Ontario facility would hold 7 million cubic feet of nuclear waste for thousands of years. Any leak during that time could unleash toxic material throughout the Great Lakes Basin, and contaminate the largest surface freshwater system in the world while causing irreparable damage to the more than 3,500 plants and animals that inhabit the ecosystem. Even with these serious risks to the Great Lakes, the Canadian review panel failed to consider any potential alternative sites.

The United States and Canada created the IJC, guided by the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909, to prevent and resolve disputes over shared waters. One of the IJC’s main responsibilities is to investigate transboundary issues and recommend solutions when requested by the national governments. In the Boundary Waters Treaty, both countries agreed that neither would pollute boundary waters to an extent that would cause injury to health or property in the other country. And yet, with this Ontario Power Generation proposal Canada is on the path to permanently storing toxic nuclear waste under our Great Lakes.

As the co-chair of the Senate Great Lakes Task Force, I understand the serious threat this repository has on the long-term health of the Great Lakes Basin. We must ensure the environmental integrity of the Great Lakes for future generations to come. I urge you to use your authority to request an IJC study into this matter, to utilize Federal resources to properly assess the risks this proposal poses to the United States, and to request that the Canadian Government postpone its final decision until both parties of the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909 properly consider the matter.

Sincerely,

Senator Mark Kirk

cc: John Kerry, Secretary, U.S. Department of State
cc: Gina McCarthy, Administrator, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
cc: Gordon Walker, Canadian Chair of the International Joint Commission (IJC)
cc: Lana Pollack, United States Chair of the International Joint Commission (IJC)