Nuclear Waste To Be Dumped Near Lake Huron?
DETROIT (WWJ) - Conservation groups are voicing concerns about a proposal to dump nuclear waste near Lake Huron.
As WWJ's Rob Sanford reports, Ontario Power Generation is looking to build a waste dumping zone at a site just a mile from the water's edge.
The Canadian utility owns a nuclear plant near Lake Huron, and now officials have said they are looking for permanent site to leave low to mid level nuclear waste.
According to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, low-level waste includes items that have become contaminated with radioactive material or have become radioactive through exposure to neutron radiation, such as protective shoe coverings, clothing, wiping rags, mops, reactor water treatment residues, equipment and tools.
John Jackson with Great Lakes United opposes the idea. He told the Detroit News it will be hard to contain something like nuclear waste that can last forever.
Plans would see a holding chamber to be constructed at more than 1,600 feet underground.
However, the proposed chamber location is nearly within the site of the lake itself, and that is just too close for some conservationists and local residents.
