As reported by the Globe and Mail of Ottawa, Ontario, Dr. Frank Greening has warned the Canadian federal Joint Review Panel overseeing the environmental assessment on a proposed Great Lakes radioactive waste dump that discarded pressure tubes could behave like cluster bombs.
Ontario Power Generation (OPG) proposes to bury so-called "low" and "intermediate" level radioactive wastes from 20 reactors across the province less than a mile from the shoreline of Lake Huron.
The article reports:
'In a submission to a federal review panel, nuclear chemist Frank Greening said OPG’s contractors seriously underestimated the potential impacts of a bombing in the vicinity of pressure tubes that have been removed from reactors and stored as waste. In contrast to OPG assurances, Dr. Greening said the zirconium in the tubes would burn fiercely, setting off chain reactions similar to those in cluster bombs.
“I think this is quite alarming, what I’m suggesting could happen and what they seem to have entirely missed,” he said in an interview Monday. “This absolutely affects the safety case … This is the design of a cluster bomb, this is an incendiary weapon waiting to happen. In fact, I think this is absolutely reckless on their part.”'
As the article reports:
'Dr. Greening was a research scientist for OPG’s predecessor, Ontario Hydro, for more than 20 years until 2000, and has worked more recently as a consultant for Bruce Power. He has been a frequent critic of OPG and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) which – along with the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency – is conducting the hearings.'