Environmentalists and municipalities vow to keep fighting against radioactive steam generator shipment on the Great Lakes

A shipment between the downtowns of Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario, showing how narrow the Detroit River is.The Windsor Star reports that Citizens Environment Alliance of Southwestern Ontario, for one, will keep on resisting the shipment of radioactive waste on the Great Lakes, despite the Canadian Nuclear Safety (sic) Commission's rubberstamp last Friday of plans by Bruce Power to transport 16 school bus sized radioactive steam generators, each weighing 100 tons, on a single boat from Lake Huron, through the St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair, the Detroit River, Lake Erie, the Welland Canal, Lake Ontario, the St. Lawrence River, and the Atlantic Ocean to Sweden for so-called "recycling." The Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River Cities Initiative has determined that -- under Canadian federal law -- a sinking of the shipment, and breaching of just a small number of plutonium-contaminated steam generators, particularly in a river, could release enough radioactivity to necessitate radiological emergency measures, such as shut down of adjacent drinking water intakes. As shown by the photo at the left (provided by Citizens Environment Alliance), the Detroit River between Detroit and Windsor is not only narrow (Detroit's name comes from the French word détroit, meaning strait, after all!), it is also shallow. A radioactive release in such a location would not be much diluted by the small volume of water in the river, increasing the accident's risks to people and the environment. The Cities Initiative has made this point repeatedly to CNSC, which has duly ignored it.

"CNSC, Bruce Power called to the carpet over nuke shipment"

Canadian MP Nathan Cullen (NDP)The Toronoto Sun reports that a Canadian federal parliamentary committee will grill representatives of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) and nuclear utility Bruce Power over Friday's CNSC approval of a Bruce proposal to ship 16 radioactive steam generators on the Great Lakes to Sweden for "recycling." Nathan Cullen (pictured at left), a New Democratic Party (social democratic) opposition member of the House of Commons natural resources committee, has confirmed that "public concern has been pouring in." At the end of September, 2010, Cullen also spoke out at the Canadian Parliamentary Press Gallery just after the environmental coalition -- including Kevin Kamps from Beyond Nuclear -- opposing the shipment, as CNSC hearings were to begin that day on the issue. 

Environmentalists condemn decision allowing shipment of radioactive waste on the Great Lakes

Detroit News graphic showing shipment route from Bruce nuclear power plant, Canada to Studsvik, Sweden radioactive waste "recycling" center.Taking advantage of the weekend to get a jump on public alarm and media coverage, at 4:41 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 4 the federal Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission approved a highly controversial proposal to ship 16 radioactively contaminated steam generators from Ontario to Sweden via the waters of the Great Lakes. The shipment would originate at the Bruce Nuclear Power Plant, the largest in the western hemisphere, and one of the largest in the world, with 9 reactors on one site. The shipment would originate on Lake Huron, and then pass through the St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair, the Detroit River, Lake Erie, the Welland Canal, Lake Ontario, the St. Lawrence River, and the Atlantic Ocean. It would be bound for "recycling" at Studsvik, Sweden. An environmental coalition has been raising the alarm bell about the shipment and radioactive "recycling" plan since last spring, long delaying it. Before the shipment can enter U.S. territorial waters on the Great Lakes, it must receive a permit from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). The coalition is calling on PHMSA to undertake a full Environmental Impact Statement under the National Environmental Policy Act. The coalition issued a media release condemning CNSC's approval of the controversial and risky shipment. For more background information and history on this issue, go to Beyond Nuclear's Canada website section. The Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, on behalf of 70 municipalities, has also expressed disappointment in the CNSC decision, as has the Council of Canadians. The Environment News Service has reported on these developments, as has the CBC and the Toronto Star. The Sierra Club of Canada summed up the decision: "justice for the environment -- denied."