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Great Lakes United
June 2002
EXPANSION OF HIGH LEVEL NUCLEAR WASTE STORAGE AT THE BRUCE NUCLEAR COMPLEX ON THE SHORELINE OF LAKE HURON, CANADA
WHEREAS, the Bruce nuclear facility is located on the Lake Huron shoreline, in the municipality of Kincardine, Ontario, Canada; and
WHEREAS, the Bruce nuclear facility has 8 nuclear reactors in various stages of operation; and
WHEREAS, the Bruce nuclear complex also has two dedicated low and medium level radioactive waste sites, with such waste generated at the Bruce nuclear complex and imported from all of Ontario Power Generation's facilities; and
WHEREAS, these dedicated low and medium level radioactive waste sites are documented as leaching radioactive contaminants such as tritium into the groundwater; and
WHEREAS, the Bruce nuclear facility also incinerates low level radioactive waste; and
WHEREAS, it is recognized that the production of nuclear energy at the Bruce nuclear complex generates high level radioactive waste in the form of used fuel bundles; and
WHEREAS, used fuel bundles are highly radioactive, with the half life of component isotopes measured in thousands of years; and
WHEREAS, a new facility is being constructed at the Bruce nuclear complex to store up to 744,000 used fuel bundles (approximately 20,000 tons of high level waste); and
WHEREAS, the projected total of used fuel bundles generated at the Bruce nuclear complex will be almost 1,500,000 used fuel bundles (approximately 40,000 tons of high level waste), which would be over 50% of the size of the proposed U.S. Yucca Mountain waste repository (at 77,000 tons); and
WHEREAS, the method of permanent disposal of Canada's nuclear waste has not been resolved, at a substantial and largely unfunded cost; and
WHEREAS, the Bruce nuclear complex is on the immediate Lake Huron shoreline, and approximately 50 miles directly across Lake Huron from Michigan; and
WHEREAS, there are clear transboundary issues related to the Bruce nuclear complex; and
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that Great Lakes United calls upon the Canadian Government to halt construction of the new high level radioactive waste storage facility at the Bruce nuclear complex until such time the above concerns are fully addressed complete with meaningful and thorough public hearings in Michigan and the United States; and
BE IT ALSO RESOLVED that Great Lakes United reconfirms our previous resolutions calling upon the U.S. and Canadian Governments to begin to immediately phase out all nuclear power plants within the Great Lakes Basin, and to utilize and research less ecologically devastating forms of energy, including but not limited to energy conservation, energy efficiency, solar and wind energy.
* British Energy owns 80% of Bruce Power, which leases and operates the Bruce nuclear complex.
I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE COPY OF A RESOLUTION ADOPTED AT THE TWENTIETH ANNUAL MEETING OF GREAT LAKES UNITED ON JUNE 9, 2002.
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Liz Armstrong, Secretary
http://www.glu.org/english/information/resolutions/resolutions-2002/Bruce-High-Level-Nucl-Waste.doc
Great Lakes United is a coalition of 160 community-based and regional environmental and conservation organizations in 9 U.S. states and 2 Canadian provinces devoted to protecting the environment of the Great Lakes ecosystem.
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