TORONTO – A group opposed to a plan to bury nuclear waste near Lake Huron says it has sent a petition with more than 90,000 signatures to federal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna.
Beverly Fernandez of Stop the Great Lakes Nuclear Dump says the petition – which would have required 6,754 pages to print – had 92,251 signatures and more than 31,000 comments when it was emailed to McKenna earlier this week.
Ontario Power Generation wants to bury hundreds of thousands of cubic metres of waste from nuclear plants about 680 metres underground at the Bruce Power generating station near Kincardine, Ont., about 1.2 kilometres from Lake Huron.
READ MORE: Liberals push back decision on burying nuclear waste near Lake Huron
OPG has said the waste would not include highly radioactive spent fuel, but would consist of “low-level” waste such as ashes from incinerated mop heads, paper towels and floor sweepings, and “intermediate waste” – discarded parts from the reactor core.
Fernandez says more than 180 resolutions have been passed on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border condemning the plan, and she claims the resolutions represent about 22 million people.
A Canadian environmental assessment released last May concluded the OPG plan was the best way to deal with the waste, and found little risk to the lake. Former environment minister Leona Aglukkaq had promised to make a decision by last Dec. 2, but the new Liberal government has put it off to March 1.
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