Jeremy L. Dillon
RW Monitor
8/29/2014
Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.) this week announced plans to introduce a resolution before the House next month that would express U.S. opposition to the construction of Ontario Power Generation’s proposed deep geological repository for low and intermediary waste. “As Michiganders, we know that our Great Lakes are an invaluable and precious resource that we must protect now and for future generations,” Kildee said in a statement. “That’s why Canada’s proposed plan to permanently store millions of tons of radioactive waste near Lake Huron is so troubling, and why we must take action to ensure such a storage facility is never built so close to our shared water resources. It’s too big of a risk to take, and my congressional resolution seeks to ensure that a permanent nuclear waste site would not be located in our Great Lakes Basin.”
Kildee joins a long list of Michigan politicians who have come out against the proposed repository, mainly due to its close proximity to the Great Lakes, the world’s largest source of freshwater. Earlier this summer, Michigan’s state Senate passed a resolution against the site and called on President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry to intervene by submitting a letter of reference or request a binding decision from the International Joint Commission, the inter-country organization established to settle disputes surrounding the Great Lakes.
OPG has maintained that the site is protective of human health, and worries of a contamination spread are unfounded. OPG did not respond to calls for comment this week, but the company has previously maintained that the site is protective of human health. OPG spokesman Neal Kelly told RW Monitor last year that OPG has been working with U.S. agencies to show that no adverse impacts would result.
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. Currently, the licensing of the facility is under review by a Joint Review Panel under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency. After the public comment period, the review panel will submit an environmental assessment report within 90 days to the federal Minister of the Environment with its recommendations for the path forward. Once the federal government gives the go-ahead, the review panel can issue a license to prepare a site and construct the facility.
