Continued fight to stop shipment of radioactive nuclear materials across Great Lakes

“According to BP’s own figures, about 90% of the mass of radioactive material inside the steam generators is plutonium — a highly toxic, long-lived radioactive poison,

Green groups take final shot to block Great Lakes nuclear shipment Carmen Chai ,NATIONAL POST, Postmedia News · , Nov. 20, 2010 Environmental groups have one last chance to convince Canada’s nuclear-energy watchdog to reject a plan to haul 16 decommissioned radioactive steam generators across the Great Lakes on their way to Sweden for recycling.

About 80 organizations from across Canada, the United States and Sweden are submitting their final pleas Monday to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, insisting its panel should reject a plan by Bruce Power to ship about 1,600 tonnes of radioactive waste through Canada’s Great Lakes.

The commission gave environmentalists 30 days to file final comments.

Critics say the route would set a “dangerous” North American precedent as the largest shipment to travel on the Great Lakes. The generators would then move through the St. Lawrence Seaway and across the Atlantic Ocean……….

John Bennett of the Sierra Club Foundation.

“They’re trying to establish that they can ship this stuff out of the country and once they get the first shipment into Sweden, then the Great Lakes (are)open and there’s hundreds of thousands of tonnes of stuff going down Canadian waters. This is not about 16 steam generators,” he said…….

“This material would be sold on the open market without any indication that it’s radioactive at all. It’d be in any kind of commercial products that require scrap metals, from tables to silverware or kids’ toys,” Gordon Edwards, president of the Montreal-based Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility, warned consumers……….

“According to BP’s own figures, about 90% of the mass of radioactive material inside the steam generators is plutonium — a highly toxic, long-lived radioactive poison,” Mr. Edwards said in a statement.

The amount of plutonium-239 inside the generators is enough to give more than 52 million atomic workers their maximum permissible “body burden” of 0.7 micrograms, he said.

Kevin Kamps of Beyond Nuclear, a Washington-based environmental group, says North American tourism, recreation, agriculture and fishing industries would be negatively affected by “radioactive stigma” if the plan proceeds.

He said when nuclear waste moves through the United States, property values surrounding the route decrease before shipment even begins.

His organization is working with dozens of groups appealing to Canadian and U.S. officials, insisting that environmental-impact statements under U.S. policies and environmental assessments under the Canadian acts be completed before the commission has a verdict.

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission has a month, beginning Monday, to make a decision……