Originally published in 2015 the post below was about concerns related to opening a nuclear storage facility next to the Great Lakes which could result in nuclear pollution problems that vastly surpass those created at Chernobyl and Fukushima. It was an issue of concern to both Americans and Canadians alike.
Apparently the government dropped these plans last year (2020). See this article.
In spite of all of this, it seems like something is in the works again.
“Nuclear industry officials have begun test drilling deep into the bedrock below southwestern Ontario to determine whether the small town of Teeswater, Ont., a community about 40 km from Lake Huron’s shore, could be the future home of Canada’s first spent nuclear fuel repository. Teeswater is one of two potential sites for the proposed underground facility. Geologists are also looking at the northern Ontario community of Ignace, about 243 kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay, where drilling is already underway.”
Learn more here: Test drilling begins for controversial nuclear disposal site near Lake Huron
No matter the outcome, There are still numerous nuclear hotspots around the Great Lakes …. home to some 30 million people.
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Trudeau will decide within weeks on nuclear waste dump on Lake Huron – October 23, 2015 – 8:45am
Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow walks on the shores of Lake Huron. The Council of Canadians is calling on incoming Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to reject a plan to bury 200,000 cubic metres of low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste near Lake Huron.
A federal panel approved the nuclear waste dump on the shores of Lake Huron this past May, but, as the Globe and Mail reported in June, “Federal Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq has delayed until after the fall election a controversial decision on whether to approve a proposed nuclear-waste facility on the shores of Lake Huron – an issue that has bitterly divided communities in the region. “A decision on the nuclear waste dump is now required by early December.
It is expected that Trudeau will appoint his new minister of the environment on November 4. If the Trudeau government approves the controversial project, nuclear waste that is considered hazardous for hundreds of thousands of years would be stored just hundreds of metres from the Great Lakes, the source of drinking water for about 40 million people in two countries.
Blackburn News has reported, “Radioactive waste specialist Kevin Kamps of the U.S. based group, Beyond Nuclear, says it makes no sense to bury the waste out of reach in hopes to keep the radiation isolated for hundreds of thousands of years. He claims the federal panel accepted Ontario Power Generation’s testimony that Lake Huron would be large enough to dilute radioactive wastes if they leaked from the repository.” He says, “That a federal hearing panel would accept using the Great Lakes for the dilution of radioactive pollution as a solution to the industry’s waste management problems robs their report of any credibility.”The Council of Canadians has opposed the project for years.
More: Trudeau will decide within weeks on nuclear waste dump on Lake Huron | The Council of Canadians
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