#161 - Debate over Burial of Radioactive Waste near Lake Huron

The town of Kincardine and some surrounding communities in Ontario Canada have provided their support to a proposal to bury radioactive waste in an area near Lake Huron.

The waste is classified as "low-level" and is comprised of ashes from incinerated mop heads, paper towels, floor sweepings, and other debris. It would also include "intermediate waste" such as discarded parts from the reactor core. Most of the waste would decay within 300 years, but some of the intermediate waste would stay radioactive for more than 100,000 years.

This Nov. 1, 2013 photo shows rows of chambers
holding intermediate-level radioactive waste in shallow pits
at the Bruce Power nuclear complex near Kincardine, Ontario.
(Caption from CTV News website - AP Photo/John Flesher)

According to the proposed scheme, the waste would be placed in impermeable chambers drilled into sturdy limestone 2,230 feet below the surface, topped with a shale layer more than 600 feet thick.

The strongest opposition to the scheme seems to be over the fact that the storage chambers are less than 1 mile (1.6km) from Lake Huron, a source of drinking water for many US and Canadian communities. The lake's maximum depth in the vicinity of the nuclear site is about 590 feet. Opponents have contended that seeping groundwater would fill the chamber in a short time, become contaminated, and eventually reach the lake through tiny cracks in the rock. However, the radioactive material in question has been stored above-ground since the late 1960's and needs a permanent resting place.

Many individuals and communities have a knee-jerk reaction to nuclear power which is sometimes based on misinformation. Existing energy sources such as the oil and coal industries no doubt have something to gain from suppressing the development of nuclear technology. However, not all aspects of nuclear energy production are as bad as many people perceive them to be.

See - 
http://nextbigfuture.com/2013/11/carnival-of-nuclear-energy-184.html
http://www.hiroshimasyndrome.com/radiation-the-no-safe-level-myth.html
http://www.hiroshimasyndrome.com/environmentalists-for-nuclear-energy.html

From the Chem.info website - http://www.chem.info/news/2013/11/nuclear-waste-burial-debate-rages-along-lake-huron#.UpihQ8RDvG5

Also: http://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/kincardine-residents-back-plan-to-bury-nuclear-waste-near-lake-huron-1.1561064#ixzz2m2dph3s3

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