Waste Transportation

The transportation of radioactive waste already occurs, but will become frequent on our rails, roads and waterways, should irradiated reactor fuel be moved to interim or permanent dump sites.

.................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Wednesday
Feb092011

Mohawk Nation communities condemn CNSC for approving radioactive waste shipment through their territories on Great Lakes and St. Lawrence

The Mohawk Nation communities of Akwesasne, Kahnawake, and Tyendinaga have issued a strongly worded statement condemning the Canadian Nuclear Safety (sic) Commission's approval of Bruce Power's application to ship 16 radioactive steam generators through their territories via the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River to Sweden for so-called "recycling."

Wednesday
Feb092011

U.K. Nuclear-Free Local Authorities speak out against Canadian radioactive waste shipment

UK NFLA logo.In a media release, the U.K. Nuclear-Free Local Authorities have spoken out strongly against Bruce Power's proposed shipment of 16 radioactive steam generators, which would pass through Irish and British waters on their way to Studsvik Nuclear for so-called "recycling" in Sweden. In addition to contacting the British and Irish governments, the UK NFLA is also contacting the governments of Norway and Sweden to urge them to not approve the shipment entering their waters.

Wednesday
Feb092011

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

A ship shows how narrow the Detroit River is between the downtowns of Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario.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.

Wednesday
Feb092011

Voices from Lake Erie concerned about Canadian radioactive waste shipment

The Erie, Pennsylvania Times News has reported that the Lake Erie Region Conservancy, the S.O.N.S. of Lake Erie, and the mayor of Erie, Pennsylvania have joined the growing ranks of concerned citizens, environmental groups, municipalities, and Native American tribes concerned about and opposed to Bruce nuclear power plant's proposed shipment of 16 radioactive steam generators on the Great Lakes for so-called "recycling" in Sweden.

Monday
Feb072011

"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.