How does nuclear waste sitting less than a mile away from Lake Huron sound? Pretty gross, right? Ontario Power Generation (OPG) has proposed a Canadian nuclear waste site for 53 million gallons of waste to be stored near the shores of Lake Huron.
The proposed deep geologic repository (DGR) would be located at the Bruce nuclear site in Kincardine, Ontario, less than a mile from Lake Huron. The waste site would be just under a half mile underground and would store close to 53 million gallons of “low and intermediate-level” radioactive nuclear waste.
Although OPG believes they are creating a “safe, permanent solution to manage nuclear waste,” lawmakers disagree.
Michigan Rep. Dan Lauwers (R-Brockway Township) says in a recent statement, “Building a nuclear waste dump less than a mile from one of the largest freshwater sources in the world is a reckless act that should be universally opposed.”
Andy Buchsbaum, regional executive director for the National Wildlife Federation’s Great Lakes Regional Center, says that OPG’s plan “poses a serious threat to people, fish, wildlife and the lakes themselves.”
OPG was ordered to resubmit the DGR safety case to the federal review panel after a former OPG scientist discovered that radioactivity of materials was grossly underestimated.
Meanwhile, Michigan lawmakers seek to stop plans for the nuclear waste site by introducing legislation, which would halt the importation of radioactive waste into Michigan from Canada.
