Great Lakes nuke shipment plan stirs accident fear

9/17/2010

Environmentalists and some local officials are protesting a Canadian company's plan to haul 16 scrapped generators from a nuclear power plant across three of the Great Lakes.

Bruce Power Inc., an Ontario company, is seeking a Canadian license for the shipment. The generators would cross parts of Lakes Huron, Erie and Ontario and the St. Lawrence Seaway on their way to Sweden, where they would be recycled.

Canadian nuclear regulators have scheduled a hearing for Sept. 28-29 in Ottawa.

The company says the bus-sized generators have been welded shut to prevent radioactivity leakage. They say the shipment poses no threat to human health or the environment.

But critics say there's always a risk of an accident that would pollute the lakes.