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

U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL)U.S. Senator Mark Kirk (Republican-Illinois, photo left) has issued a press release, and the text of a letter he sent to President Obama, calling for administration action to protect the Great Lakes against Ontario Power Generation's (OPG) proposed "low" and "intermediate" level radioactive waste dump, targeted at the Lake Huron shoreline at Bruce Nuclear Generating Station.

Sen. Kirk stated: “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. 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.”

In 2011, and again in 2013, Sen. Kirk sent letters of concern to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator. Last year, and again this year, Sen. Kirk has introduced resolutions of disapproval for the site.

In his letter to President Obama, Sen. Kirk stated: "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 [International Joint Commission]."

Sen. Kirk warned: "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."

More information about Canada's Great Lakes shore radioactive waste dump is posted under Beyond Nuclear's Canada website section.

Michael J. Keegan receives ANA & Beyond Nuclear "Judith Johnsrud Unsung Hero Award" at DC Days

Michael J. Keegan (right) receives Judith Johnsrud Unsung Hero Award from Beyond Nuclear's Kevin Kamps. Photo by Glenn Carroll of Nukewatch South.On May 18, the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability (ANA) and Beyond Nuclear named Michael J. Keegan of Monroe, MI the 2015 Judith Johnsrud Unsung Hero, "for demonstrating tireless dedication and stubborn determination, undeterred by lack of recognition, resources, or short-term success, in his creative, visionary work for a Nuclear-Free Great Lakes." The award ceremony took place as part of ANA's annual D.C. Days Capitol Hill reception, held at Rayburn House Office Building.

The award was named after Beyond Nuclear founding board member, Dr. Judith H. Johnsrud, who passed on in 2014. Judy's anti-nuclear activism began in 1967, when she blocked Project Ketch, a scheme to explode a thousand H bombs underground in Pennsylvania, to carve natural gas storage. Her resistance to nuclear power included intervening against Three Mile Island, long before the meltdown. In 2012, the Sierra Club honored Judy with a lifetime achievement award for her half-century of anti-nuclear activism. (See Beyond Nuclear's tribute to Judy on p. 6 of its TMI 35th anniversary newsletter.)

The criteria for this award include: a clear dedication to the issue; hard-working and self-sacrificing; determined, fearless spirit when confronted with challenges and setbacks; unsung. No one fits this bill better than Michael J. Keegan.

For the past 35 years Michael has actively engaged in opposition to nuclear power and nuclear proliferation. He has testified in hearings at county, state, provincial, and the U.S.-Canadian federal levels, providing expert testimony. He has frequently been legal intervenor in matters before both federal governments. Michael has helped stop nuclear waste dumps, atomic reactors, bomb tests, radioactive shipments on the Great Lakes, and many other nuclear ills. Currently, Michael is engaged as a legal intervenor against: the proposed Fermi 3, MI new reactor license application; the Davis-Besse, OH license extension; and the Palisades, MI license amendment request for regulatory relief on reactor pressure vessel embrittlement risks.

Michael began with his opposition to the nuclear industry in 1980 at Fermi 2, a Fukushima twin design, which is located near Monroe, MI, his lifelong home. In the mid 1990s he brought together Citizen's Resistance at Fermi Two. He is Co-Chair of Don't Waste Michigan, and Chair of the Coalition for a Nuclear-Free Great Lakes. Michael co-chairs a U.S.-Canadian task force dedicated to Green Energy and a Nuclear-Free Great Lakes.

See Kevin's introduction of Michael here. See Michael's biographical statement here

Great Lakes Cities Initiative questions JRP approval of OPG DGR

The bi-national Great Lakes Cities Initiative, representing scores of Great Lakes mayors in both the U.S. and Canada, has issued a statement strongly questioning the wisdom of the Canadian federal Joint Review Panel's recommendation to open a radioactive waste dump on the shores of the Great Lakes, without having so much as considered alternative locations.

The GLCI played a key role in stopping Bruce Nuclear's scheme to ship radioactive wastes on the Great Lakes a few years ago.

100 groups send Open Letter to Government of Ontario: OPG's plan to dump radioactive wastes on Great Lakes shore unacceptable

OPG's proposed so-called Deep Geologic Repository for radioactive waste burial would be located 3/4ths of a mile from the Great Lakes shoreline.Beyond Nuclear has joined 100 allied groups from across Ontario, the rest of Canada, the U.S., and other countries, in sending an Open Letter to the Provincial Government of Ontario. The province is the sole shareholder of Ontario Power Generation (OPG), which plans to dump all of the "low" and "intermediate" level radioactive wastes from 20 reactors in a "Deep Geologic Repository" (DGR) at the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station in Kincardine, Ontario, within 1 km (0.75 mi) of the waters of Lake Huron.

The coalition's Open Letter comes in response to the Canadian federal Joint Review Panel's approval of OPG's environmental assessment for the insane scheme, which would put at risk the drinking water supply for 40 million people in eight U.S. states, two Canadian provinces, and a large number of Native American First Nations.

The coalition has issued a press release.

Anishinabek Nation joins Saugeen Ojibway Nation in opposition to burying nuclear waste"

As reported by Anishinabek News, the Anishinabek Grand Council Chief, Patrick Madahbee, has joined Saugeen Ojibwe Nation Chief Vernon Roote in expressing opposition to the Ontario Power Generation Deep Geologic Repository for radioactive waste targeted at their territories on the Great Lakes shoreline.

Grand Council Chief Patrick Madahbee