Jeremy L. Dillon
RW Monitor
4/17/2015
Members of Michigan’s congressional delegation introduced this week a resolution in the Senate and House that calls on the President and Secretary of State to intervene in the construction of a Canadian deep geologic repository near the Great Lakes. The resolution from Rep. Dan Kildee (R-Mich.), along with Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Gary Peters (D-Mich.), joins a list of other state-side dissenters to the Ontario Power Generation’s proposed repository, which would host low and intermediate levels of radioactive waste. The group previously called on President Barrack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry to intervene on the project in late 2013. “Permanently storing nuclear waste at a Canadian facility less than a mile from the Great Lakes is dangerous and an unnecessary risk we shouldn’t take,” Kildee said in a statement this week. “Millions of people – both in the U.S. and Canada – depend on our shared water resources, not only for drinking water, but for good-paying jobs associated with the fishing, boating and tourism industry. My Congressional resolution seeks to find an alternative location for this Canadian nuclear waste storage site so it does not endanger our state’s livelihood or economy – now or for future generations.”
OPG, though, maintained this week that the proposed repository would not affect public health or the environment. “OPG has been part of the community for decades, and our staff live, work and raise their families on the Great Lakes,” OPG spokesman Neil Kelly said. “We wouldn’t propose this project if we didn’t think it was safe, and the science supports us when we say this project does not pose a risk to the Great Lakes or the environment.” He added, “The Joint Review Panel conducted the most comprehensive and science based nuclear waste storage review in Canadian history. Their report reflects the input of hundreds of Canadians and Americans. The upcoming recommendation is an important step towards that goal, but there are still a number of steps remaining.”
The proposed repository would be located beneath OPG’s Bruce nuclear facility in Kincardine, Ont. OPG plans on storing low and intermediate waste from its Bruce, Pickering, and Darlington power stations at the proposed repository, which would be located 680 meters (approximately 744 yards) below the surface in an isolated rock formation of shale and limestone. The project has drawn the ire of citizens on both sides of the border because of its proximity to the Great Lakes, one of the world’s largest sources of fresh water. Currently, the Joint Review Panel overseeing the environmental assessment is working on a recommendation for the viability of the project, with a report due next month. Following the issuance of that report, the federal government through the Canadian Minister of the Environment then must decide whether to give the go-ahead, which would allow the review panel to issue a license to prepare the site and construct the facility.
