GREAT LAKES AND RADIATION

What a plan. Bury radioactive wastes (at whatever strength) within a kilometre of one of the largest sources of fresh water in the world. Afterall it's not as if anybody has ever prophesied water shortages or water wars down the road. Saturday's Waterloo Region Record carrys this story titled "Court urged to stop Lake Huron nuclear dump". Holy mackeral whenever I think there is a limit to the stupidity of human beings something like this crops up. As far as a limit to the stupidity of politicians I guess I'm being naive on that one.

The group Save Our Saugeen Shores has sent an application to the Federal Court requesting that the review panel's approval of the proposed nuclear waste dump be rescinded. Ontario Power Generation are the bad guys in this whole scenario. What a surprise. This group have been in the news for all the wrong reasons for a very long time including massive remuneration for the big shots at the top. There is no evidence that they are working in the public interest.

The claims that the Bedrock is stable and would provide a "hermetic seal" are just that: claims. At best they've drilled down to a certain depth and taken borehole samples up to the surface for study. These borehole samples will indeed give geologists a good idea of the characteristics of the Bedrock exactly at that spot. Fractures, fissues and even different material literally could be inches away and totally unknown.

Our U.S. neighbours who share the five Great Lakes with us are also not amused by Ontario's plans for nuclear storage beside Lake Huron. As Ontario's long and no longer secret weapon against pollution has always been "dilution is the solution to pollution" you can understand their concerns. What leakage will occur will of course be shared with them as well as with the rest of eastern Canada as it makes it's way to the east coast of Canada. Is sharing really what good neighbours do? Will this be the excuse down the road for the U.S. to decide to "annex" the Great Lakes for their own use in order to satisfy their south-west water shortages?