Media Release
For release September 13, 2002
 

Ottawa – The future of the Bruce Nuclear Power Complex has been plunged into controversy. The long term viability of Bruce Power, the company in charge of the 8 Bruce reactors, was recently thrown into question because of the near-collapse of British Energy, its parent company. Meanwhile, Ontario Power Generation (OPG) is seeking financial protection from Ottawa for its plans to make the Bruce site the largest outdoor repository for radioactive waste in North America.

Representatives from several American and Canadian Public Interest Organizations are in Ottawa this week to contest OPG’s efforts to stockpile enormous quantities of irradiated nuclear fuel — known as high-level radioactive waste — in temporary dry storage containers near the shores of Lake Huron. The groups are calling on the Canadian government to suspend OPG’s plans to stockpile high-level waste at Bruce until an extraordinary transboundary set of public hearings can be organized.

“This nuclear waste facility at Bruce is an accident just waiting to happen.” said Michael Keegan of the Coalition for a Nuclear Free Great Lakes. “It will be the largest outdoor high-level waste repository in North America, highly vulnerable to terrorist attacks, natural disasters, and freak accidents. We live just 50 miles across the lake from Bruce and any incident at Bruce is inescapable for us.”

Maria Maybee, the Indigenous People’s Caucus Coordinator of Great Lakes United, echos Keegan’s fears. “Radioactive contamination knows no borders” she explained. “A mishap at Bruce could contaminate the entire Great Lakes system and hurt 36 million people. The damages would run to billions of dollars.” Canada’s Nuclear Liability Act limits the liability of nuclear facility operators to $75 million.

Dr. Gordon Edwards, President of the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility, highlights the lunacy of the Nuclear Liability Act. “It’s a case of double jeopardy! Taxpayers’ money protects the investment of those that cause the problem, while citizens bear all the risks with zero financial protection.” Kevin Kamps, of the Washington-based Nuclear Information and Resource Service, agrees. “It’s ridiculous to think that $75 million (Canadian) would ever cover the costs of a catastrophic accident at Bruce. The Act is designed only to protect the nuclear industry. And in any case, it’s highly unlikely that Americans would ever be compensated.

As part of its plan, Ontario Power Generation (OPG) and Bruce Power are currently asking the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) to designate the Bruce waste dump as a separate nuclear facility under the Nuclear Liability Act. If the CNSC approves this designation, Bruce Power would be exempt from any responsibility in case of accident and OPG would have its liability limited to $75 million.

In addition to the proposed high-level waste storage, Bruce’s waste facility already houses the low- and medium-level radioactive waste from OPG’s 21 Ontario reactors. High-level nuclear waste or irradiated nuclear fuel is the most toxic waste material on earth, and, remains dangerous for thousands of years. At Bruce, these wastes are currently stored in the containment structures of the reactor buildings.

Canadian and American groups will be contesting these plans at CNSC hearings on Friday, September 13, 2002.

To Shawn-Patrick Stensil of the Campaign for Nuclear Phaseout, the financial mess of British Energy and the radioactive waste problem at Bruce are all indicative of what’s wrong with the nuclear-energy industry. “The nuclear industry just wouldn’t survive if it couldn’t get government hand-outs. We need to stop bailing out the industry and cleaning up its mess. We need to phase out nuclear energy and move to safe and sustainable alternatives.”

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