By Mary Drier
Staff Writer and
Chris Aldridge
for the Advertiser
MICHIGAN — Ever since Canada announced plans for a nuclear dump site near Lake Huron there has been concern and efforts underway to halt the project.
Canadian officials propose to bury 7 million cubic feet of radioactive waste less than a mile from the shore of Lake Huron, directly across the lake from the Thumb. The proposed site is near Kincardine, Ontario, which is about 55 miles east of Huron County. The plan is to store more than 50 million gallons of low- to intermediate-level nuclear waste in shafts buried under a layer of limestone.
While Tuscola County doesn’t have any Lake Huron shoreline, it does have about 25 miles of shoreline along Saginaw Bay which flows into Lake Huron.
There will be a special town-hall meeting in Bay County regarding Canadian officials’ proposal to bury 7 million cubic feet of radioactive waste less than a mile from the shore of Lake Huron. State Senators Mike Green (R – Mayville) and Phil Pavlov (R – St. Clair Township) invite Bay and Thumb area residents in the 31st and 25th Senate Districts to a public town hall on 6:30 – 8 p.m.. Monday, Oct. 6, at the Pere Marquette Depot, Room 1904, 1000 Adams St., Bay City, to discuss legislative and other efforts to protect Lake Huron from a proposed Canadian nuclear waste dump.
The meeting will be the second one in two months. The senators hosted a similar meeting Sept. 22, in Sebewaing.
The senators are leading an effort in Lansing to halt construction of the dump. Their legislation has passed the Michigan Senate unanimously and awaits action in the House of Representatives.
In May, Pavlov introduced Senate Bill 948, which would ban the importing of radioactive waste into Michigan. It heads to the house for a vote.
Also, U.S. Senators Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow have signed a resolution urging Congress and President Barack Obama to take further action.
The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency asked an expert group to study potential hazards associated with the proposed site. The group said the “immense” waters of the Great Lakes will greatly dilute any radiation-bearing water that might leak from a proposed nuclear waste site on Lake Huron.
Experts also said fast-flowing surface water would dilute leaking radiation, and that it’s possible that as much as 1,000 cubic meters a year of water contaminated with radiation might leak out of a site — although it rates the likelihood as “highly improbable.”
But testimony from the Joint Review Panel for the Deep Geologic Repository Project, tasked with helping recommend whether the storage site should be built, told another story, according to Pavlov.
“There was a room full of scientists and geologists on the panel, and there was no consensus,” said Pavlov. “That should be telling enough to understand where they’re going.
Pavlov also is seeking support in an on-line petition at www.protectlakehuron.com.
So far more than 60 communities throughout the region have recently passed resolutions in support of the measures. Both Tuscola County and Huron County commissioners have passed such resolutions as well as several townships.
Canadian’s plan for a nuclear waste facility near the U.S. Border is a concern because the Great Lakes is one of the worlds largest sources of fresh water, said Tuscola County Commission Chair Thom Bardwell.
Ontario Power Generation plans to burrow about 2,200 feet underground near Kincardine, in Ontario to build a nuclear waste storage facility. While most of the disposed nuclear waste would be low-level waste, it could also handle intermediate level nuclear waste that is closure to nuclear core. Ontario has 20 nuclear reactions.
For more information, contact Green’s office at 1-517-373-1777.
Mary Drier is a staff writer for the Tuscola County Advertiser. She can be reached at drier@tcadvertiser.com.