Canada delays decision on Lake Huron nuclear waste facility

Dive Brief:

Canada’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change will issue a decision in March 2016 on whether to move forward with a controversial nuclear waste storage facility near Lake Huron that Ontario Power Generation has pursued for over a decade. The decision was originally slated to be made by December 2015 over the plan that would allow the company to bury low-to-mid-level radioactive wastes near Kincardine. The repository would sit less than a mile from the shore.
While Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative Party did not oppose the plan, the new Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, will have a second look as elected officials argue against it.
In August, Michigan legislators attempted to involve the International Joint Commission, U.S-Canadian body that handles boundary disputes. The commission can get involved only at the U.S. Department of State's request. The State Department has not of yet requested the commission’s input, according to Detroit News.

Dive Insight:

The issue of storing nuclear waste along the shore has put stakeholders on either side at odds — namely over safety issues, including possible contamination of drinking water. As the extended review process winds down, opponents and proponents put up their arguments over concerns.

"Storing radioactive nuclear waste within such close proximity of our Great Lakes puts the millions of Americans and Canadians who rely on them in unnecessary danger," said U.S. Rep. Candice Miller, in a statement released Saturday. "I hope that this additional 90-day review period will give Canadian authorities time to take the prudent course of action and not permit the construction of this nuclear site …"

Members of Michigan’s congressional delegation wrote to Trudeau, calling for denial of permits to build the storage facility.

Ontario Power Generation says the design and placement of the underground facility would facilitate safe storage for "many thousands of years."

"OPG has spent more than a decade studying the feasibility of a (deep geologic repository) at its Bruce site in Kincardine... and has conducted considerable public consultations," the company stated.