| Bruce Centre for Energy Research and Information PR
2002-14 October 30, 2002 Press Release Nuclear Waste Issues Heating Up Great Lakes Interest Clock Starts Ticking on Canada's Nuclear Waste Disposal Decision as U.S. Senators Express Concern to Colin Powell INVERHURON, Ontario -- In just over two weeks, the clock will officially start on a three year race to find a location and a means for permanent disposal of Canada's ever growing piles of high-level nuclear fuel waste. The law which set the three-year time period quietly received Royal Assent last June and comes into force November 15, 2002. Under the new legislation, “An Act Respecting the Long Term Management of Nuclear Fuel Waste,” a new organization comprised of industry representatives has been charged with providing the federal government with recommendations for permanent disposal within three years. Elizabeth Dowdeswell, a former senior official in Ottawa and at the United Nations, was named last week to the top post of the newly created “Waste Management Organization” as its president. See http://www.nrcan-rncan.gc.ca/media/newsreleases/2002/2002127_e.htm The new legislation comes on the heels of a recent (October 17) letter from Michigan Senators Debbie Stabenow and Carl Levin to U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell expressing concern over expanded high-level waste storage at the Bruce nuclear complex, some 50 miles across Lake Huron from Michigan. Stabenow and Levin, who is also chair of the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee, urged Powell to intercede with the Canadian government. Among other concerns, they cited security and safety issues “of such a high profile and large facility,” given its proximity to both Michigan and the Great Lakes, which supply millions of homes with drinking water. Noting “nearly a century of bi-national decision making regarding the stewardship of the Great Lakes,” they called for the plan to be reviewed. Read the text of the letter: http://www.friendsofbruce.ca The above ground storage area at the Western Waste Management Facility (WWMF) on the Bruce complex site is designed to house up to 2,000 dry storage casks holding 18,000 tons of high-level waste. That is the amount already sitting in the almost full cooling pools at the reactor buildings, waiting to be moved to the new above ground storage area. It is projected that the Bruce site, described as the largest nuclear complex in the world, will generate an additional 18,000 tons of high-level waste over its lifetime. The total of 36,000 tons would be almost half that slated to be stored at the controversial Yucca Mountain site, the United States’ proposed central repository for its high-level waste. Western Waste Management Facility (WWMF) representatives officially opened the new high-level storage addition in a ribbon cutting ceremony earlier this month. See http://www.opg.com/info/news/NewsOct09_2002.asp The last piece of paperwork fell into place a week ago in a decision released by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, Canada's nuclear regulator. It designated the WWMF as a “nuclear installation” under Canada's Nuclear Liability Act. Under the Act, Ontario Power Generation (OPG), as the operator of the WWMF, has a maximum liability exposure of $75 million Cdn. in the event of a major accident or terrorist attack. In releasing its decision, the Commission also set the amount of basic insurance to be maintained for the WWMF by OPG at $6 million Cdn. Read the CNSC release at: http://www.nuclearsafety.gc.ca/eng/media/press/news_release.cfm?news_release_id=47 Meanwhile, local area officials, including Mayor Larry Kraemer of Kincardine, launched last Saturday on a week-long fact finding junket to Europe to compare the relationship other nuclear host cities and towns have with nuclear waste facilities. The junket is being paid for by Ontario Power Generation. For more information contact the Bruce Center at info@friendsofBruce.ca , visit our web site at www.friendsofbruce.ca or call Normand de la Chevrotiere at (519) 742-0730. |