A Windsor MP is putting a motion before parliament to put the brakes on plans to bury nuclear waste within 1.2 km of Lake Huron.
Brian Masse questions the safety of burying all of Ontario’s low- and intermediate-level waste in an underground facility on the Bruce Power site north of Kincardine.
Masse made the announcement in Ottawa Tuesday.
Two months of hearings into the proposed project by Ontario Power Generation (OPG) wrapped up in October, but more hearings are expected later this year.
The NDP MP from Windsor West and the official opposition critic for the Great Lakes says two things that happened earlier this year peaked his interest.
In January former OPG scientist Dr. Frank Greening indicated that some of the levels of radioactivity had been under-estimated by factors of more than 100.
The only operational Deep Geological Repository in North America reported a release of radioactive materials this February, after 15 years of operation.
Masse said in a statement “Once the safety of this project was called into question by Dr. Greening and we learned of the incident in New Mexico, we knew we had to move forward with the motion.”
Opposition has come from fifty counties and cities in Canada and the U.S. representing over 10 million people, as well as an online petition by the Stop the Great Lakes Nuclear Dump Organization that has gathered over 56,000 signatories from citizens in all Canadian provinces and territories and all 50 U.S. states.
OPG says they’ve spent years studying the safety of the project which would store things like mop heads and rags used inside ontario’s nuclear facilities along with refurbishment waste.
They feel there plan to build as far down as the CN tower is tall and bury the waste in an underground facility is the best option.
