March 09, 2011
Groups urge feds to stall ‘nuclear garbage’ shipment
Eighty-three MPs sign petition
Postmedia News
Environmental groups are urging the government to stop a controversial plan to move 16 school-bus sized decommissioned steam generators through the Great Lakes to Sweden until what they call proper transport policies are in place.
Last month, Canada’s nuclear watchdog granted a licence to Bruce Power to transport the radiation-laced steel generators. But the president of the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility said yesterday the government should step in to stall the shipment because it could contaminate waters and because it sets a dangerous precedent.
“It’s very important for the government of Canada, the government of Ontario, government of Quebec and all of the municipal politicians, as well, to wake up and realize that they have a responsibility to protect the Earth and to represent public interests,” Gordon Edwards told a news conference yesterday.
“It’s setting a precedent because we’re talking here not about nuclear goods. We’re talking about nuclear garbage, and we’re going to have a highway of nuclear garbage. This shipment is going to be the first of many if we allow it to happen,” he said.
A House of Commons natural resources committee was to grill decision-makers at the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and Bruce Power, the country’s only private nuclear power generator, at a meeting yesterday afternoon. Opposition groups have also been called to testify at a committee meeting tomorrow.
Edwards said that, so far, 83 MPs have signed a petition calling on the government to stop the shipment until transport policies are evaluated.
John Bennett, executive director of the Sierra Club of Canada, said his organization joined with lawyers at the Canadian Environmental Law Association to ask the Federal Court for a judicial review of the decisions to grant export and transfer licences to Bruce Power.
Transport Minister Chuck Strahl also has to issue a permit to Bruce Power, but NDP natural resources critic Nathan Cullen said a committee report could stop the shipment from proceeding until regulations are in place to make sure the transport is safe.
He said the committee meetings could “expose” current gaps in policies.
About 300 letters have poured in from mayors in Ontario and Quebec, and hundreds more have asked to share their thoughts with the government at meetings, Cullen said.
