Powerful Stop the Great Lakes Nuclear Dump ad in Toronto Star

The radioactive waste dump would be located less than a mile from the Lake Huron shore, surrounded by the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station, one of the biggest nuclear power plants in the worldThe group Stop the Great Lakes Nuclear Dump has run a powerful ad in the Toronto Star, one of Canada's biggest daily newspapers. Set against the beautiful backdrop of Lake Huron, the ad points out where Ontario Power Generation (OPG) would like to bury radioactive wastes on its shore.

As reported at the Stop the Great Lakes Nuclear Dump's website, group spokesperson Beverly Fernandez was interviewed by two different news outlets on August 28th, including an extended radio interview. Links are provided.

Stop the Great Lakes Nuclear Dump has also reported that, as of August 25th, 117 resolutions across multiple states and provinces have been passed opposing this insane proposal. The municipalities passing these resolutions of opposition, added together, speak on behalf of 10.8 million people.

And finally, the Stop the Great Lakes Nuclear Dump petition now stands at over 68,000 signatures. If you haven't already signed it, please do. Also, send it to everyone you know.

The Canadian federal Joint Review Panel overseeing the environmental assessment on OPG's proposed Deep Geologic Repository (or DGR) will hold two weeks of what will very likely be the final round of public hearings, starting at 9am Eastern on Tuesday, September 9th. Beyond Nuclear's Radioactive Waste Watchdog, Kevin Kamps, will testify on the afternoon of Tuesday, September 16th.

The public hearings will take place in Kincardine, Ontario -- the location of the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station (NGS), and now targeted for the DGR. The Bruce NGS has a total of 9 reactors on one site, making it one of the world's biggest nuclear power plants. The DGR would bury all of the so-called "low" and "intermediate" level radioactive wastes from 20 reactors across Ontario.

The hearings will be webcast live through the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission website at www.nuclearsafety.gc.ca.

A daily agenda containing the list of presenters will be available each hearing day. Two sessions will be held each day, one in the morning (9:00 a.m. to 12:30p.m.) and one in the afternoon (2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.). Modifications to the schedule will be reflected on the daily agenda, where possible.

The JRP has published the current schedule of presenters.

Once the JRP wraps up this final round of public hearings, it will go behind closed doors for an unspecified length of time, to decide whether or not to approve moving forward with the DGR. Its recommendation will be sent to Canada's federal environment minister, who will then take the decision to Prime Minister Steven Harper's Cabinet, bypassing the Canadian federal Parliament.

The Great Lakes is more than 20% of the world's surface fresh water -- and more than 90% of North America's. It is the drinking water supply for 40 million people in 8 U.S. states, 2 Canadian provinces, and a large number of Native American First Nations.