OPG's DGR is an irresponsible travesty that must not happen, says writer

To the Editor:
This letter was written for World Water Day (March 22).
 

Canada: Ontario Power Generation (OPG) is seeking permission to bury radioactive nuclear waste in a Deep Geologic Repository (DGR) right beside Lake Huron, part of the Great Lakes Basin. The Great Lakes provide fresh drinking water for 40-million Canadians and Americans.

All DGRs throughout the world have failed. This is an experiment that risks contaminating a major source of fresh water for the convenience of OPG, owned by the Ontario government. Convenience, because the company never looked at other sites away from Lake Huron. It owns the very land where it proposes burying waste that will be radioactive for 100,000 years and then it does not have to incur the cost of moving nuclear waste that is already sitting above ground on the site.

The solution is to move the waste far from the water and monitor above-ground in enhanced storage containers. As science moves forward, we may be able to use this waste for energy if we have access to it. If and when this DGR leaks, it will leach into Lake Huron and from there, travel throughout the waterway shared by Canada and the United States.

OPG and the provincial and federal governments must not be allowed to bury radioactive waste beside these precious sources of life-giving water as we contemplate a world water shortage. Please sign the petition - stopthegreatlakesnucleardump.com - and complain to your local government.

This threat and irresponsible travesty must not happen! 

Joanne Martin
Kincardine