A Michigan U.S. Congressman plans to introduce a resolution today that calls on the President and Secretary of State to interfere in the construction of a Canadian deep geologic repository near the Great Lakes. Rep. Dan Kildee’s (R-Mich.) latest effort joins a list of state-side dissenters to the Ontario Power Generation’s proposed repository, which would host low and intermediate levels of radioactive waste. Kildee, along with other members of the Michigan congressional delegation, previously called on President Barrack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry to intervene on the project. “Permanently storing nuclear waste at a Canadian facility less than a mile from the Great Lakes is dangerous and an unnecessary risk we shouldn’t take,” Kildee said in a statement. “Millions of people—both in the U.S. and Canada—depend on our shared water resources, not only for drinking water, but for good-paying jobs associated with the fishing, boating and tourism industry. My congressional resolution seeks to find an alternative location for this Canadian nuclear waste storage site so it does not endanger our state’s livelihood or economy—now or for future generations.”
The proposed repository would be located beneath OPG’s Bruce nuclear facility in Kincardine, Ont. OPG plans on storing low and intermediate waste from its Bruce, Pickering, and Darlington power stations at the proposed repository, which would be located 680 meters (approximately 744 yards) below the surface in an isolated rock formation of shale and limestone. The project has drawn the ire of citizens on both sides of the border because of its proximity to the Great Lakes, one of the world’s largest sources of fresh water. Currently, the Joint Review Panel overseeing the environmental assessment is working on a recommendation for the viability of the project, with a report due next month.
