Local News
Nuclear waste to be buried 1 mile from Lake Huron
Multiple petitions
to stop plan
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. – A nuclear power plant in Canada plans to bury 7.1 million cubic feet of waste one mile from Lake Huron.
Opponents of the plan have submitted a petition with more than 92,000 signatures and sent it to Canada’s top environment official. Two websites have petitions to stop the plan.
StopTheGreatLakesNuclearDump.com
Ontario Power Generation is the plant that wants to bury the low- and intermediate-level nuclear waste about 2,230 feet deep near Kincardine, Ontario.
The company says the waste would be entombed in rock for 100,000 years and wouldn’t endanger the lake.
Opponents, of course, contend it’s too risky. The Great Lakes make up one-fifth of the world’s supply of fresh water.
Intermediate level nuclear wastes remain highly radioactive for over 100,000 years.
About a decade after it’s entombed, if no leaks are found, the site will no longer be actively monitored. After 300 years, it will be completely abandoned where it will be expected to remain for whatever is left of those 100,000 years.
A Canadian advisory panel endorsed the project last year. After the election of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, however, the decision has been delayed until March 1.
Beverly Fernandez of a group called Stop the Great Lakes Nuclear Dump says the petition was sent this week to Catherine McKenna, the minister of Environment and Climate Change.