Don't allow shipment through Great Lakes
Opinion
Posted 1 month ago
Editor:
The planned shipment of 16 radioactive generators from the Owen Sound harbour to a recycling facility in Sweden should not be allowed because it is a risk to public health and the environment.
The shipment should be stopped by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and should be opposed by the Owen Sound city council.
Locally, a lively discussion has developed about this issue, including at Owen Sound council and from Hazel Lynn (MOH of the Grey Bruce Health Unit), and it appears that there is a tendency to accept this project without looking at the larger risks.
These steam generators, each about the size of a school bus, contain thousands of pipes which are contaminated with radioactive, cancer causing materials, many of which will continue to emit radiation for centuries.
Shipping radioactive materials such as this through the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence, a source of drinking water for over 40 million people, and the basis of a diverse and valuable ecosystem, is a practice which should not be allowed. Any chance of an accident and of centuries long radioactive contamination of these waterways is simply too great to be acceptable.
The solution to this dangerous precedent is clear.
First, the used nuclear steam generators should be recognized as radioactive waste.
Second, the provincial and federal governments should declare that radioactive wastes and radioactively contaminated equipment may not be shipped through the Great Lakes or the St. Lawrence River. Interim storage of nuclear waste should remain on-site until a long-term nuclear waste management strategy is determined.
In the absence of responsible and positive government action to stop these radioactive shipments, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission should convene comprehensive hearings on the application for a permit. At the very least, the decision making process which could lead to such a dangerous precedent should provide for broad public participation and be completely transparent.
If these shipments are allowed, more and more radioactive waste will be moved through the Great Lakes in the future. Sooner or later an accident will happen and the largest freshwater system in the world will face nuclear contamination. The time to stop this threat to present and future generations is now.
Randy Dryburgh CEO Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound Green Party of Canada
