Nuclear shipment runs aground on opposition

By Erika Engel

GEORGIAN BAY - A plan by Bruce Power to transport 16 steam generators containing radioactive waste by ship to Sweden for recycling is being met with opposition from The Blue Mountains and abroad.

The plan is drawing fire from cross-border coalition, the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, The Town of The Blue Mountains, United States Senators, members of the public and anti-nuclear groups.

Many members of the opposition presented at a recent public meeting held in Ottawa in front of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC), which is ultimately responsible for granting or not granting permission to Bruce Power to transport the generators across the water to Sweden.

Bruce Power, the company that operates the Bruce Nuclear Power Generating Station, is in the midst of a multi-billion dollar refurbishing project to return two nuclear units to service, according to company spokesman, John Peevers.

That project includes replacing several steam generators.

These generators weigh 100 tonnes each, and are 40 feet long and eight feet wide. They have been compared to a school bus.

Peevers said the steam generators are like large kettles that make steam to spin the turbines that make electricity.

Inside the generators, there is a maze of tubes with one entry point and one exit point, similar to the idea of a radiator. Water heated by the nuclear reactors (called heavy water because it is contaminated) travels through the tubes to heat the clean water in the generator. That water turns to steam to power the turbines.

Peevers said Bruce Power was planning to put the generators, as they are, into long-term storage. However, the company discovered Studsvik, a company in Sweden that separates small amounts of radioactive material from clean steel to be recycled and sold.

Studsvik then returns the radioactive material to its place of origin, in this case Bruce Power, for long-term storage.

The generators would be trucked from Kincardine to Owen Sound, then loaded onto a ship at the harbour. The ship would travel Georgian Bay to the St. Lawrence Seaway and then the Atlantic Ocean to Sweden.

Peevers said the generators could be in Sweden for up to three years before the radioactive material would be shipped back in approved containers.

The plan is drawing significant attention, both positive and negative, according to Peevers.

"Nuclear does attract a certain amount of controversy," he said. "There are people who will never support nuclear power. People have to look at the plan and look at the facts, they will see that this is the right thing to do."

The Blue Mountains Mayor Ellen Anderson is opposed to the transport of the radioactive material by water to Sweden.

"I can't understand how [the CNSC] would approve," said Anderson. "Water isn't a good place to be shipping this stuff. We don't have enough information."

She says the problem with the transport is that it might set a precedent for further shipping of radioactive materials on the Great Lakes or the St. Lawrence Seaway.

She argues that a land spill can be contained, but a spill in the water will affect drinking water forever.

"I'm thinking about the generations to come," said Anderson. "My personal feeling is, if I don't do the right thing now, I'd be responsible for the future accidents."

The Blue Mountains council voted in September to send a letter to the CNSC to oppose the proposed shipment. The town sent CAO, Paul Graham to the public hearing in front of the commission to make a presentation.

"I do not accept, nor does The Blue Mountains' Council accept that there are no risks with the proposed shipment of this radioactive material," said Graham at the hearing. "We are particularly concerned about the precedent set by the approval of this application and that the shipping of radioactive materials will become normal accepted business in Canada ... It is because of the past we know not to rely on the phrase, 'It will never happen.' History shows us that accidents will happen."

Graham said there needed to be transparency during the process so the public can trust the Commission.

"In the case of transporting radioactive material, we should leave no stone unturned when we are working on contingency plans to deal with the potential release of these radioactive materials into our natural environment," said Graham.

The Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, a bi-national coalition of over 70 mayors, opposed the proposed shipment in a presentation at the public hearing.

"The Cities Initiative is concerned about the risk this proposed shipment presents to the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence," said Mayor Denis Lapoint of Quebec, chair of the initiative. "We have identified several information gaps and concerns with the materials shared with the public date. We are concerned that the environmental review rests on best case rather than worst case assumptions."

A news release from the Cities Initiative indicated the group was opposed to the shipment also because they claim the review of the proposed shipment, answers to questions and information to the public has been inadequate.

Lastly, the coalition is opposed to setting a precedent for the nature of the shipment and the amount of radioactive waste.

Seven U.S. Senators including Robert Casey, Russell Feingold, Kirsten Gillibrand, Carl Levin, Debbie Stabenow, Richard Durbin and Charles Schumer.

Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission staff backed Bruce Power's proposal, concluding that the transport plan is safe.

Staff told the Commission at the hearing that there is "no impact on the health and safety of the public and the environment." Staff recommended that the commission accept staff's conclusion and grant permission to Bruce Nuclear to ship the generators to Sweden.

No decision has been made by the Commission yet.

Duncan Hawthorne, president and CEO of Bruce Power, made a presentation at the Commission's public hearing. He maintained that the shipment is safe and explained that the quantity of radioactive material being taken out of the 100 ton generators is about 4 grams, in total from 16 generators, there will be 64 grams of radioactive material embedded in the tubes that are crushed down and contained in Commission approved containers.

"There are thousands of these radioactive shipments each year; medical, nuclear and industrial," said Hawthorne.

John Peevers said that the radioactive material isn't something that will just spill out.

He said that even if there was an accident and the ship sank and the generators were broken open, radioactive waste wouldn't get into the water until the pipes started rusting decades later.

He said Bruce Power has a plan to fetch the generators should they sink during transport.

The contract between Studsvik and Bruce Power is worth $37 million, but Peevers said it is a revenue neutral deal. The cost of storing the full-size steam generators would be about the same as the cost of sending the generators to Sweden so the radioactive materials can be removed and returned.