MONTREAL, Feb. 7 (UPI) -- Officials in Quebec have joined others in Ontario in condemning a decision to allow low-level radioactive nuclear waste to ship through the St. Lawrence Seaway.
The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission said it will permit the Bruce Power Plant in Ontario to ship 16 decommissioned steam generators through the Great Lakes and the seaway to a recycling plant in Sweden, The (Montreal) Gazette reported Monday.
Each generator is the size of a school bus, weighs 100 tons and contains some radioactive waste, including plutonium 239, similar to low-level wastes from other sources but larger in scale. The generators are welded shut.
Although the commission determined the risk "to persons and the environment is negligible," Alan DeSousa, vice chairman of Montreal's executive committee, said, "If ever there was a time to go back to the drawing board, it is now."
"The safety of our residents cannot be dismissed as a negligible risk," DeSousa said.
The risk of an accidental spill into the water system cannot be downplayed, DeSousa said, adding, "The safety of residents is being compromised."
Canadian Coalition on Nuclear Responsibility President Gordon Edwards said the generators should remain where they are at Ontario's Pickering power plant "until this issue has been fully debated and Canada has set a policy on nuclear radioactive waste, its transport and exportation."
