Four members of Michigan’s delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday urged Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to ensure his nation does not build a radioactive waste disposal site near the Great Lakes.
The lawmakers said they were concerned by reports that the Canadian government is approaching a decision on the location for a permanent national repository for nuclear waste.
“We stand in strong opposition to any decision by the Canadian government to select or consider a permanent national repository for nuclear waste storage near the Great Lakes. This is a treasured natural resource each of our counties share and we urge you to stand with us to protect these waters for future generations,” says the letter to Trudeau, signed by Reps. Debbie Dingell (D), Fred Upton (R), Paul Mitchell (R), and Daniel Kildee (D).
Last month, Upton and Dingell added an amendment to legislation on management of U.S. nuclear waste that offers a “sense of Congress” that the U.S. and Canadian governments should prohibit permanent disposal or extended storage of radioactive waste near the Great Lakes. The House Energy and Commerce Committee then voted in favor of the bill.
Upton and Dingell, along with other Midwestern lawmakers, have for years warned against a planned Canadian geologic repository for low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste. Ontario Power Generation is waiting on government approval for its selected site at the Bruce nuclear power plant in Kincardine, near Lake Huron. The utility has said it hopes a decision will be made by 2021.
More recently, Canada’s Nuclear Waste Management Organization in late November said it had further narrowed the number of locations being considered for a separate geologic repository for the nation’s spent fuel from nuclear power plants. One of those communities, Huron-Kinloss in southern Ontario, is also near Lake Huron. The NWMO expects to complete site selection by 2023.
