Groups ready to do ‘whatever’s necessary’ to halt nuke-generator shipment
Posted March 8, 2011 12:12 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Environmental and aboriginal groups say they’ll do whatever is necessary to stop the shipment of 16 nuclear-plant generators through the St. Lawrence Seaway.
Clinton Philips of the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake won’t elaborate on what those actions might be.
The warnings come hours before the head of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission is to appear at a parliamentary committee hearing witnesses on the transport of the steam generators to Sweden.
Two of the environmental groups — the Sierra Club and the Canadian Environmental Law Association — have gone to court to block the shipment.
They’ve also asked for an injunction to keep Transport Minister Chuck Strahl from signing any other permit or authorization allowing Bruce Power to proceed with the project.
Bruce Power wants to ship the 16 steam generators, each the size of a school bus, from an Ontario nuclear plant to Sweden, through the Great Lakes and cities like Montreal along the St. Lawrence.
The move is strongly opposed by the Bloc Quebecois, the NDP and a number of community organizations.
The nuclear safety commission says thousands of shipments of radioactive medical isotopes and other substances routinely travel the route every year.
It says there would only be a few grams of radioactive material being shipped in this case.
