LANSING, MI -- Two Michigan lawmakers are speaking out against a Canadian proposal to store nuclear waste underground less than a mile from the shores of Lake Huron.
State Sen. Hoon-Yung Hopgood (D-Taylor) and Rep. Sarah Roberts (D-St. Clair Shores) are expected to testify Monday afternoon in Canada before a joint review panel assessing the environmental impact and safety risks of a proposed nuclear dumping ground in Kincardine, Ontario.
Ontario Power Generation says it wants to store roughly 200,000 cubic meters of low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste deep inside limestone caverns near its Bruce Nuclear Generating Station. The site is roughly 120 miles upstream from Lake Huron intakes that provide drinking water for much of Southeast Michigan.
Roberts, in prepared testimony she is expected to deliver Monday afternoon, will express concerns about the implications of an unintended disaster, citing the Fukashima meltdown in Japan and recent history of earthquakes in Ontario.
"The bottom line is, it is impossible to guarantee the geological integrity of the proposed location for the (repository)," she said in a copy of her remarks released earlier Monday. "There will always be unanticipated or unpredictable natural occurrences that take place."
The nuclear waste storage site would be the first of its kind within the Great Lakes Basin, according to Roberts, and would pose a risk to Michigan drinking water and tourism for generations to come. Michigan law prohibits the disposal of low-level radioactive waste within 10 miles of the Great Lakes, Lake St. Clair and major rivers that flow into them.
Back in May, the Michigan Senate unanimously adopted a resolution introduced by Hopgood urging the Canadian government to thoroughly review the proposed nuclear waste site and memorializing the U.S. Congress to ensure that Michigan's concerns are fully addressed during that process.
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