U.S. Rep. Kildee to unveil major plan to block Canadian Great Lakes radioactive waste dump

U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee (D-MI)As reported by the Macomb Daily:

"On a ship moored along the banks of the Saginaw River, U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee will reveal a major plan to protect the Great Lakes from a proposed nuclear waste facility on the Canadian shores of Lake Huron at 12:30 p.m. today...While aboard the Appledore IV Kildee is expected to reveal his plans to introduce a congressional resolution that would put Congress on the record against the proposed construction of the deep geological reservoir for nuclear waste."

The Canadian federal Joint Review Panel (JRP) overseeing Ontario Power Generation's (OPG) proposed Deep Geologic Repository (DGR) is about to hold a final round of public hearings in the DGR's targeted town. The DGR would bury all of the province's so-called "low" and "intermediate" level radioactive waste, from 20 reactors owned by OPG. Kincardine is also "home" to the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station, one of the world's single largest nuclear power plants. Beyond Nuclear staff will testify in person, for the second time, before the JRP on Sept. 16th.

Bi-national coalition opposes Fermi 2 license extension on Great Lakes shore

NRC file photo of Fermi 2Multiple environmental groups have met an arbitrarily short, 11:59pm Eastern deadline, and officially intervened against the application by DTE (Detroit Edison) to extend the operating license at its Fermi 2 atomic reactor (photo, left) for an additional 20 years. Fermi 2's operating license is currently set to expire in 2025.

DTE's Fermi nuclear power plant, most infamous for the October 5, 1966 "We Almost Lost Detroit" partial meltdown of its Unit 1 experimental plutonium breeder reactor, is located on the Lake Erie shore of southeast Michigan, in Monroe County.

Beyond Nuclear has entered into coalition with Citizens Environment Alliance of Southwestern Ontario, as well as Don't Waste Michigan, to file four contentions against Fermi 2's license extension.

Two of the contentions concern radioactive waste. The first is about the risk of catastrophic irradiated nuclear fuel storage pool fires. Fermi 2's storage pool holds around 600 tons of irradiated nuclear fuel, more than all four destroyed units at Fukushima Daiichi put together (419 tons). The second radioactive waste contention is about the lack of safety and environmental assurances, since the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) "Nuclear Waste Confidence" policy was declared null and void two years ago by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, and NRC has not yet replaced it.

Another contention concerns the General Electric Mark I Boiling Water Reactor, and its containment's, long-known, fatal design flaws. Fermi 2 is largest GE Mark I BWR in the world, almost as big as the melted down Fukushima Daiichi Units 1 and 2 reactor cores put together. 

The final contention is about the interconnected risks between the age-degraded Fermi 2, and the untested, proposed new Fermi 3 atomic reactor, including the vulnerability of both sharing a common off-site electricity transmission corridor.

The three groups, joined by Citizens for Alternatives to Chemical Contamination, as well as the Sierra Club, Michigan Chapter, have also been intervening against the Fermi 3 proposed new reactor since March, 2009.

Both coalitions challenging Fermi 2, and Fermi 3, are represented by Toledo-based attorney Terry Lodge.

Citizens Resistance at Fermi Two (CRAFT) separately filed 14 contentions of its own against the Fermi 2 license extension. CRAFT released a press release.

JRP blocks MI State Sen. Pavlov from testifying; Bad Axe, MI latest resolution opposing DUD

The proposed location for the radioactive waste dump, less than a mile from the Great Lakes shoreAs reported by the Huron Daily Tribune, the Town of Bad Axe, Michigan is the latest to speak out, by passing a resolution against Ontario Power Generation's (OPG) insane proposal to bury all of the province's so-called "low" and "intermediate" level radioactive wastes -- from 20 atomic reactors -- less than a mile from the Lake Huron shoreline, at Bruce Nuclear Generating Station in Kincardine, Canada.

Meanwhile, the Canadian federal Joint Review Panel (JRP), comprised of two hearing examiners from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) and one from the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA), has rejected a request from Michigan State Senator Phil Pavlov (R-St. Clair Twp.) to testify at the next, and likely last, round of public hearings, scheduled to begin on Sept. 9th. The Times Herald has reported on this story.

Pavlov has launched an online petition entitled "Protect Lake Huron: No Nuclear Waste on its Shores."

Pavlov has also led legislation through the MI State Senate, which passed unanimously, opposing the dump, and urging the U.S. federal government to intervene, by activating the U.S.-Canadian International Joint Commission (IJC) to investigate the dump's risks. The bill is pending in the MI House of Representatives.

In addition, as posted on the website of Stop the Great Lakes Nuclear Dump:

Closed Meetings Investigator finds Bruce County Council meetings with Nuclear Industry Reps in Contravention of Ontario Municipal Act -- see the Amberley Gavel Investigation Report .

The Toronto Star has reported that the closed-door nuclear meeting broke the law in Bruce County.

The Stop the Great Lakes Nuclear Dump petition now stands at over 65,500 signatures! Help grow it by spreading the word!

For more recent updates on the DUD (Deep Underground Dump), see immediately below...

Update on August 18, 2014 by admin

Stop the Great Lakes Nuclear Dump reports that 92 resolutions have been passed in opposition to OPG's DGR. The combined populations of these jurisdictions amount to more than 10.7 million Great Lakes residents!

The JRP has scheduled Beyond Nuclear's Radioactive Waste Watchdog, Kevin Kamps, to present testimony in opposition to the DGR on Sept. 18th in Kincardine, Ontario, Canada.

Update on August 21, 2014 by admin

Make that 93 resolutions opposing the DUD (Deep Underground Dump)! The Cheboygan Daily Tribune reports that the Cheboygan County Board of Commissioners has passed a resolution against the DGR, joining many of its neighboring counties, as well as the Michigan State Senate.