Great Lakes mayors pan waste option

LONDON, Ont . — Great Lakes mayors hav e “seri - ous concerns” about a federal review panel’s report greenlighting a proposal by Ontario’s power producer to bury nuclear waste deep below the province’s Bruce Peninsula.

The Great Lakes and St . Lawrence Cities Initiative, in a statement Thursday, suggested the joint review panel “has more work to do, especially with regard to considering other possible locations.”

The review panel last week recommended the federal environment minister issue a construction permit to Ontario Power Generation ( OPG) to store low- and medium- level nuclear waste underground, in a storage vault more than half a kilometre underground near Kincardine, Ont., in the shadow of the Bruce nuclear plant.

On both sides of the Canada- U. S. border, the proposal has come under sharp criticism by cities and environmentalists fearful it could menace the drinking water supply in the Great Lakes basin.

“The big issue is whether it makes sense to put it so close to one of the largest bodies of surface fresh water in the world that is the source of drinking water to over 40 million Canadians and Americans without considering other possible locations,” the coalition of 142 Great Lakes municipalities said.

The group stressed “caution and patience” before the government makes a decision, adding “an accident would cause irreparable, if not life- changing damage to fresh water that serves 40 million people.”