Deep Geological Repository
A nuclear threat to the Great Lakes and surrounding Canadian-USEcosystem
Canadian commission OKs shipment with radioactive waste on Great Lakes
A Canadian agency OK'd a license for a company that wants to ship 16 old steam generators with radioactive materials to Europe on a route that includes Lake Erie.
That decision disappointed advocacy groups and a coalition of mayors, including Erie's, concerned about what effect an accident might have on the water, creatures within it and people who live around it. "It's pretty scary stuff," Tom Fuhrman, president of the Lake Erie Region Conservancy, said. "It would seem that we should be competent to move some old boilers but what if?"
Bruce Power, of Canada, wants to send the 100-ton generators to Sweden for recycling. The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission decided Friday to issue a transport license, valid for one year.
"We always believed this was the right thing to do to reduce our environmental footprint and we are pleased the soundness of our case has been verified by the CNSC," Bruce Power President Duncan Hawthorne said in a news release.
The company said the generators are considered low-level radioactive waste.
Because shipping routes could take the generators through U.S. waters, Bruce Power said it will need to obtain a permit from U.S. authorities.
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection officials said they hadn't been approached about the shipment.
Bruce Power is in Tiverton, Ontario, on the shore of Lake Huron and about 100 miles north of London, Ontario. On the way to the Atlantic Ocean from the port of Owen Sound, the generator shipment's travels would include Lakes Huron, Erie and Ontario and the St. Lawrence River.
In a news release, the CNSC said it was "satisfied that the risk to the health and safety of the public and the environment posed by the proposed activity is negligible."
But not everyone is convinced.
Fuhrman knows from experience that things can go wrong. He said he worked for a local company in the 1970s that was shipping a large boiler to southern Texas.The boiler was welded to a barge in Pittsburgh, then traveled down the Ohio River to the Mississippi River and on to the Gulf of Mexico, where it sank during a storm."But that was only steel, nothing hazardous," Fuhrman said.
Ed Kissell, vice president of S.O.N.S. of Lake Erie, said it's probably less expensive to put the generators on ships than rail cars and the water route could avoid residential areas.But he said there could be a disaster if anything happened to the shipment. Kissell said it's not known how far the radiation could extend in the water if an accident occurred.
The Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, a coalition of mayors from Ontario, Quebec and eight U.S. states, expressed disappointment about the commission's decision.Erie Mayor Joe Sinnott is a member of the initiative's board. A representative for Sinnott referred questions to the initiative.In a news release, the group said its analysis showed an accidental spill of radioactive material during shipment in the Great Lakes nearshore area, in Owen Sound harbor or in a lock, could exceed federal standards for radioactivity in drinking water.
Bruce Power said that the timing of the shipment will be determined once all approvals are in place.
Writer DANA MASSING can be reached at 870-1729 or by e-mail.
dana.massing@timesnews.com
Resources
Documents are available at libraries in Port Elgin, Kincardine, Tiverton, Southampton, Walkerton, Paisley, Hanover and Owen Sound as well as the band offices of the Saugeen First Nation in RR1 Southampton and the Chippewas of Nawash First Nation in RR5 Wiarton. The documents, which will form the basis of Bruce Power’s final New Build EA, will also be posted electronically at www.brucepower.com later this week.
The DGR would be positioned far under a spit that sticks out into Lake Huron, and would only be monitored for 300 years by the Canadian government. It is acknowledged that water will likely eventually seep into the site. There are many radionuclides that will be put into this proposed dump that have half-lives MUCH greater than 300 years, including isotopes of plutonium. These wastes are currently kept in storage onsite, adjacent the land that the Bruce reactors are on.
The Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) has a mandate from the Canadian government to find a permanent storage place for irradiated fuel ("high level" waste) for all of Canada's nuclear reactors. OPG's (Ontario Power Generation's) proposed deep underground radioactive dump adjacent the Bruce nuclear reactors by Kincardine, Ontario, reportedly would NOT contain irradiated fuel. Many observers remain skeptical, however -especially with the NWMO now working side by side with OPG on this proposal.
Every community that borders Lake Huron or obtains drinking water from or downstream of Lake Huron - has an interest in this proposed project as well as the current 8-reactor Bruce generating station and current OPG radioactive dumpsite. A serious accident or incident at this site could well affect Lake Huron and waters downstream far into the future. -
The proposed deep underground dump is unprecedented,and is for all radioactive wastes from 20 Ontario reactors except irradiated fuel. It would be a permanent dump, with radioisotopes needing isolation from the biosphere for at least one million years - yet the institutional controls would only be for 300 years. The stated end intent is to abandon the site and it is acknowledged that the dump at some point will fill in with (salt) water.
This is a critical time as comments are due June 18th on draft guidelines and joint panel review documents that will determine nature, scope and extent of the information that must be addressed in the preparation of the Environmental Impact Statement as well as rules for determining the makeup of the panel. These comments are crucial to the future health of the Great Lakes Basin.
Citizens for Alternatives to Chemical Contamination and others will be posting sample comment letters closer to the date (sometime next week). These are not comments on the proposed dump (or the proposed reactors). These are comments on how the panel is chosen, as well as the nature, scope and extent of the information that must be addressed in the EIS. These comments will determine what people can comment on after the EIS is released and what kind of testimony can be brought before the panel. For example, this is an opportunity to widen the scope of the EIS: currently, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission accepts that the only communities that could be possibly affected by an incident or accident at this proposed deep underground dump are local fisheries and local communities close to Kincardine, Ontario. The shaft and access to this site is less than a mile from Lake Huron.
For more information, please contact Great Lakes. Send an email here:
We know know that many hundreds of workers have inhaled radioactive plutonium-contaminated dust into their bodies due to negligence and/or incompetence
on the part of Bruce Power. That material will remain in their bodies for a long, long time, irradiating their tissues constantly -- even when they sleep.
In the press the word "plutonium" is not mentioned.
Instead, the phrase "alpha contamination" is used.
There are three principal types of atomic radiation,
called alpha, beta, and gamma.
Gamma is the most penetrating and the easiest to
measure; gamma rays are like x-rays, only more
energetic -- and therefore more damaging to living
tissue.
Beta is much less penetrating; beta rays should
really be called beta particles, because they are in
fact very high-speed electrons -- like miniature bullets
-- that can only penetrate a short distance in living tissue.
Beta radiation is particularly dangerous when the beta-
emitting material has been ingested, inhaled, or
absorbed through the skin into the body.
Alpha is the least penetrating form of atomic radiation;
an alpha ray should really be called an alpha particle,
because it is an electrically charged particle travelling
extremely fast, about 8000 times heavier than a beta particle.
Alpha radiation cannot penetrate through a sheet of
paper or through the dead layer of skin on the outside
of our bodies. Hence alpha rays are harmless outside
the body.
But inside the body, alpha rays are far more dangerous
than beta rays or gamma rays. In fact the deadliest
radioactive materials in the 20th century have been
alpha emitters -- plutonium-239, radium-226, radon-222,
polonium-210 and uranium are all alpha-emitting
radioactive materials.
The "alpha contamination" mentioned in the following
article is mainly plutonium-contaminated dust that had
been deposited on the insides of the pipes leading
from the core of the reactor.
This same kind of plutonium dust accounts for 90 percent
of the mass of the radioactive materials inside the used
steam generators that Bruce Power wants to ship through
the Great Lakes to Sweden --
see http://ccnr.org
Gordon Edwards.
===========================================
Lessons to be Learned from
Bruce Power Contamination
Workers may have long wait for results
Early testing indicates that while no workers will be adversely affected
from the alpha radiation contamination at Bruce Power, there are
lessons to be learned from the situation.
That point was hammered home by the president of the
Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC), Michael Binder, at a
CNSC Public Hearing held in Ottawa Thursday morning.
Binder and the board questioned why Bruce Power would not have
learned from a similar situation that occurred at the
Point LePreau Nuclear Generating Station less than two years ago.
It also came out that as many as 583 people may have had contact
with alpha radiation in the vault of Bruce A, Unit 1. A total of 195 people
are being tested for alpha radiation contamination.
Bruce Power staff was on hand to ask the CNSC to give testing
accreditation to at least one American nuclear facility to speed up the
testing process. Right now, the only Canadian site qualified to test for
alpha radiation is in Chalk River – and the process is slow.
Representing Bruce Power at the hearing was Norm Sawyer, executive
vice-president of Bruce A; Frank Saunders, vice president of nuclear
oversight regulatory affairs; and Maureen McQueen, manager of
radiation protection programs.
The trio gave a report on the incident and received some tough
questions from the CNSC.
Bruce Power was monitoring for BETA radiation. The normal BETA to
alpha radiation count is 10,000 to 1. Tests revealed the level in Unit 1
was as high as 7 to 1. There was no monitoring of alpha radiation, as
the two are generally related. The unexpected high reading
understandably caused concern.
At Thursday’s hearing, Bruce Power execs vowed to implement better
monitoring devices and testing for its staff.
On Nov. 24, workers began preparing feeder tubes for a weld. The
workers were using negative suction (like a vacuum) to dispose of the
dust created by the cutting of the pipes. The pipes contained wet
contamination of loose particulate: so the area was tented. However,
particulate dust escaped the tent and affected the whole building.
Therefore, workers were contaminated on the way in and out of the
vault as they suited up and down.
Bruce Power officials explained the alpha radiation was unexpected.
No alpha radiation monitors were in use. They have since been
acquired and put into use at the plant.
Work in the vault ceased on Nov. 28, and has yet to restart.
Bruce Power sent the tests for 19 workers to the Chalk River testing
facility, and then broadened the net to see who else had been in
contact with the alpha radiation. As of Thursday, there were 195
workers with urine samples sent away for testing, a number that
Saunders called conservative.
Of those initial 19 directly affected, 14 results have come back in line
with the company’s prediction that they would be under the regulatory
limits of alpha radiation. The highest dosage was 20.6 mSv, while the
low dosage was 11.5 mSv.
The maximum dose acceptable for nuclear workers is 100 mSv
(10,000 mrem) over a five-year period, with no more than 50mSv in
any given year.
Alpha radiation cannot penetrate the skin, but may be dangerous if
inhaled or exposed to an open wound. It can cause radiation poisoning
and chromosome damage.
Sawyer told the CNSC that each worker that has been tested will be
met with one-on-one to discuss the results and how the testing was
done. He also mentioned that independent testing will be done to
give the workers peace of mind, which Bruce Power rep John Peevers
confirmed over the phone Thursday afternoon.
Binder said that while he is confident that no workers will be physically
harmed from the incident, there is still damage done from “perceived
radiation.” He urged Bruce Power to make the results of the testing
public as they come in through its website and the media, and is
looking forward to seeing a final report on the incident, which is due
to the CNSC in the next 45 days.
Bruce Nuclear, Ontario, Canada, on Lake Huron.
The site of the proposed deep geological repository of nuclear waste.
Already testing is being done to see if the cold lower layers of water in Lake Huron will contain a nuclear waste spill and radiation, or if any chemical can be dumped into the lake to contain a spill.
Students are being used to do some of the research.
Is it ethical to use students to work on a potentially environmental holocaust project?
Is it ethical to pursue such a project when there is such a great risk involved?
This is insanity to think of building 4 more reactors on Lake Huron and putting radioactive waste for 20 Ontario plants deep underground, less than a mile from the shores of one of the Great Lakes - out of mind, out of sight - and eventually out of reach to stop/retrieve leaks that certainly will attend this dump over time. It also could put these potentially deadly wastes out of reach for retrieval and repackaging, if radioactivity increases dangerously, which could happen in either an accident or incident.
This proposed dump is essentially a plan that would permanently contaminate one of our most precious resources, the Great Lakes Basin. (90 % of the U.S. fresh water, one fifth of the World's). It may also well be the stepping stone to irradiated fuel going into this dump, and although Ontario Power Generation denies that, there are indications that could indeed happen. Even minus irradiated fuel, this dump would eventually contaminate the Great Lakes Basin, perhaps slowly or more quickly, depending on circumstances. And as we all know, we are all connected. Water moves downstream and eventually throughout the globe. Wind currents move faster and globally as well. Evaporation and rainfall connect the wind and water. Slowly but surely, these wastes will outlive their containers. Repackaging underground will be tremendously expensive, dangerous to workers - and even if robots are used, may prove impossible. All of us have witnessed the many serious radioactive plumes leaking from DOE and NRC facilities, many of which have yet to be retrieved for storage. It defies reason to think that this dump will be different.
For 20-40 (60 -80????) years of electricity, those who promote nuclear power have bargained all future generations. They have bargained the future generations' gene pool, their time, their money, their health.- For it is the future generations who will have to guard these toxic and lethal wastes, forever. They will have to never cease watching these wastes for leaks - and repackage them when they leak - an extremely costly, perilous (if possible) job. Since nuclear plants worldwide release radionuclides to the air and water on a routine basis, and many of those radionuclides bio accumulate and many bio concentrate in the food chain, the proponents of nuclear power have also ensured that the health of future generations (plants, wildlife and humans) is compromised.
