| *Campaign for Nuclear Phaseout * Canadian Coalition
for Nuclear Responsibility * Coalition for a Nuclear-Free Great Lakes * Nuclear Information and Resource Service For Immediate Release: November 14, 2002 Contact: Shawn Patrick Stensil, CNP, Ottawa, 613.789.3634 Dr. Gordon Edwards, CCNR, Montreal, 514.853.5736 Michael Keegan, CNFGL, Monroe, Michigan, 734.241.6998 Kevin Kamps, NIRS, Washington, D.C., 202.328.0002 Bruce High Level Nuclear Waste Must Be Addressed by Secretary Powell and Minister Graham Ottawa, Ontario . . . Michigan United States Senators Debbie Stabenow and Carl Levin have expressed their concerns to U.S. Secretary of State, Colin Powell about a proposal to add nearly 2,000 dry storage casks filled with high-level radioactive waste at the Bruce nuclear power complex near the shoreline of Lake Huron in Ontario. The Senators stated that "In the wake of the events of September 11, 2001 the establishment of such a high-profile and large facility for the storage of high-level radioactive waste on the shorelines of the Great Lakes needs to be thoroughly evaluated and carefully considered." The U.S. Senators have urged Secretary Colin Powell to contact the Canadian government to discuss this issue formally at the next Canadian - U.S. bilateral meeting. (Letter from Senators Debbie Stabenow and Carl Levin dated 10/17/02 to U.S. Secretary of State, Colin Powell) Today U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell will meet with Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister, Bill Graham to discuss security and border issues. While it is not known if Secretary Colin Powell will discuss this with Minister Bill Graham, American and Canadian public interest groups believe that there could be no greater security border issue for our respective countries and for the drinking waters for tens of millions of Canadian and U.S. citizens. American and Canadian public interest groups warned today that the unparalleled concentration of radioactive risk at the Bruce nuclear power complex on the eastern shore of Lake Huron in Ontario makes it a particularly attractive terrorist target. Canada was explicitly named as a potential target for future terrorist attack in the latest al Qaida tape-recorded threats, aired on the Arab satellite television network Al Jazeera on Nov. 12th, allegedly featuring Osama bin Laden's voice. A terrorist attack on the Bruce Nuclear Complex could have cataclysmic consequences for millions of people living on both sides of the border, as well as the entire Great Lakes ecosystem. • The Bruce nuclear complex is, according to the American Nuclear Society, among the largest in the world. (American Nuclear Society, 2001 wall map) • There are eight large nuclear power reactors at Bruce (a ninth reactor Douglas Point was shutdown 1984). • All of the "low" and "intermediate" level radioactive waste from 20 power reactors across Ontario is buried at Bruce in shallow containers. • The already large inventory of "high-level" radioactive waste millions of times more radioactive than the other reactor waste has overwhelmed the Bruce Storage Pools, and yet that inventory is still growing. --- more --- • Ontario Power Generation's imminent loading of the first of 2,000 dry storage containers to be filled with high-level radioactive waste would make the Bruce Complex a highly visible and defenseless target for terrorists. • The Bruce dry cask facility would be 100 times larger than anything of a similar nature on the US side of the border on the Great Lakes. • If dispersed into Lake Huron in massive quantities, these radioactive wastes are capable of contaminating the entire volume of water in the Great Lakes to unacceptable levels. Bruce is located upstream from the drinking water supplies of millions of Canadian and American citizens. The Michigan shoreline is just 50 miles across Lake Huron from Bruce, and Detroit is only 150 miles to the southwest (see Detroit News, "Nuke foes fight expansion of Canadian plant," July 24, 2002). As reported in the Sept. 9, 2002 UK Guardian (Sunday Times), al Qaida spokesmen have stated that nuclear power reactors were among the original targets considered for the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and that nuclear power plants have not been ruled out as targets in the future. In his January 2001 "State of the Union" address, George W. Bush mentioned that documents relating to US nuclear power plants had been seized by US personnel from al Qaida enclaves in Afghanistan. Security policies, procedures and personnel at nuclear reactors in both the US and Canada are strained to the breaking point (see New York Times, "Guards at Nuclear Plants Say They Feel Swamped by a Deluge of Overtime," Oct. 20, 2002, and New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal E-Brief, "Mounties protecting Lepreau burnt out," Nov. 6, 2002. See also the Project on Government Oversight report, "Nuclear Power Plant Security: Voices from Inside the Fences," Sept. 12, 2002). Calling the proposal a "radioactive bull's eye in the heart of the Great Lakes," U.S. environmental and public interest organizations spoke out against the Bruce dry cask facility at a Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission hearing on Sept. 13, 2002 in Ottawa. Growing concern led US Senators Debbie Stabenow and Carl Levin (Chairman, US Senate Armed Services Committee) from Michigan to express concern over the Bruce nuclear complex and its waste in an Oct. 17, 2002 letter to US Secretary of State Colin Powell. Despite al Qaida's explicit threats against nuclear power plants, the unprecedented concentration of radioactive risk at the Bruce site, and the strained state of security at US and Canadian nuclear reactors, the US Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs Paul V. Kelly responded on Oct. 29 to Senators Levin and Stabenow that "intense collaboration" between US and Canadian agencies, "combined with other security measures," provided adequate "physical security of nuclear materials" and "protection of the Great Lakes" at Bruce. Whether or not Secretary Powell has discussed Bruce nuclear complex security concerns with Canadian Foreign Minister Graham, as requested by the US Senators from Michigan in their letter, is not yet clear. "In addition, the US, Canadian, and Russian governments have not abandoned their consideration of using weapons-grade plutonium as fuel in Bruce reactors," said Michael Keegan of Coalition for a Nuclear-Free Great Lakes in Monroe, Michigan. "Weapons-grade plutonium, whether being shipped on the Great Lakes, trucked or railed through Michigan to be used at Bruce, would be yet another terrorist target with catastrophic potential. This proposal should be officially canceled once and for all." A joint US/Canadian/Russian project to determine the feasibility of using weapons plutonium in Canadian reactors is still underway at the Chalk River Nuclear Lab in Canada, utilizing samples of US and Russian weapons plutonium in a Canadian research reactor. The Bruce nuclear complex has been considered as a site for the use of such mixed oxide (MOX) uranium/plutonium fuel derived from US and Russian weapons plutonium. --- more --- "Given that half the electricity would be exported to the US, and profits would be exported to the UK, we oppose the restart of Bruce A units 3 and 4," said Dr. Gordon Edwards of the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility. "After all, the high-level radioactive waste and all its perpetual risks and liabilities would stay in Canada," he said. British Energy, the nearly bankrupt UK utility, operates the Bruce reactors under a lease agreement with Ontario Power Generation. Ontario Power Generation is responsible for managing the high-level radioactive waste generated by British Energy's operation of the Bruce reactors. (Documentation in this press release is available, upon request, from Kevin Kamps at NIRS, 202.328.0002) --30-- |