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More communities expected to join fight to stop nuclear waste repository near Kincardine http://www.theobserver.ca/2015/05/07/more-communities-expected-to-join-fight-to-stop-nuclear-waste-repository-near-kincardine  A federal review panel’s ‘praising’ endorsement of Ontario’s largest electricity generator and its proposed nuclear waste repository speaks volumes about the state of the regulatory world, says Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley.

“We expected (the proposal) to be approved with conditions,” he said Thursday. “What we didn’t expect was the glib and glossy language throughout the report praising OPG (Ontario Power Generation).

“One of the diseases that happens in the regulatory world is that the regulator often becomes a captain for the proponents and we see that with rail and other issues.”

In its decision released late Wednesday, the joint review panel found the proposed repository was “not likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects” if mitigation measures are implemented.

The deep geological repository is expected to house low-to-intermediate-level radioactive waste near Kincardine. It will be located only a kilometre away from Sarnia’s drinking water source.

Hundreds of Canadian and U.S. communities and environmentalists have been sounding the alarms over the plan, speaking at public hearings and contacting their elected representatives.

“I can’t argue the science,” said Bradley, who is a vocal opponent of the plan. “I’m not a scientist, but what we can argue is that there were no other locations looked at.”

He anticipates more support will come on board with the issue headed to the political sphere.

Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq and the federal cabinet will decide whether to approve the project within the next 120 days.

“Since (2012), we’ve had over 140 cities from both sides of the border, including Chicago, join the opposition and now I expect this is grow in these coming months,” Bradley said.

A spokesperson with the lobby group Stop the Great Lakes Nuclear Dump described the issue as an “intergenerational, non-partisan issue that affects millions of Canadians and Americans.”

“It is a decision that will affect the Great Lakes for the next 100,000 years,” Beverly Fernandez told The London Free Press. “The last place to bury and abandon radioactive nuclear waste is beside the largest supply of fresh water on the planet.”

But OPG official Jerry Keto told the newspaper Fernandez should “give some relevance and credit to the science behind this.”

“We’re very pleased with the results,” he said of the panel recommendation. “We’re very happy that we have the endorsement.” – With files from The London Free Press  barbara.simpson@sunmedia.ca