TORONTO – A report affirming the shoreline of Lake Huron as the best place to bury radioactive waste failed to provide information the government had requested, federal environmental authorities say.
In a detailed letter and document sent to Ontario Power Generation, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency criticizes the utility’s report as inadequate and asks it to try again – much to the delight of project opponents.
The impugned OPG report came after Environment Minister Catherine McKenna asked the utility in February last year for information on, among other things, the feasibility of burying the low or moderately radioactive waste elsewhere.
READ MORE: Federal government pushes back decision on proposed nuclear-waste bunker near Lake Huron
In response, OPG insisted the Bruce nuclear plant near Kincardine, Ont., was the best location for its proposed deep geologic repository – a massive underground rock bunker about 1.2 kilometres from Lake Huron.
Among other things, OPG said in its report in December that it would be cost-prohibitive and more dangerous to truck the hazardous waste elsewhere.
Critics, however, were quick to argue the analysis was simplistic, saying OPG had done no in-depth studies of other sites. The assessment agency appears to have agreed.
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