Urge PHMSA to undertake a Programmatic EIS on water-borne radioactive waste shipments!

Cynthia L. Quarterman, Admin., US DOT Pipelines and Haz. Mat. Safety Admin. (PHMSA)The U.S. Department of Transportation's Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is the federal agency that must approve Bruce Power's controversial and risky proposed shipment of 16 radioactive steam generators, originating in Ontario and bound for Sweden, before it enters U.S. territorial waters on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River. PHMSA is infamous for its negligence in major oil pipeline leaks into rivers, deadly natural gas pipeline explosions, and the cozy relationships between the agency's top leadership and the very companies and industries PHMSA is supposed to regulate. Thanks to 7 Great Lakes U.S. Senators, it was revealed that PHMSA has previously rubberstamped approvals for 17 water-borne shipments of large, radioactive nuclear components in the past. These shipments travelled on rivers, bays, and sea coasts across the U.S., and even on the waters of Lake Michigan. PHMSA very quietly granted "approvals or special permits" for shipping radioactive steam generators, reactor pressure vessels, pressurizers, and reactor vessel heads with little or no notice to, or attention from, the public, media, emergency responders, or elected officials. Given the radiological risks of these shipments, and the precedent they set for shipping high-level radioactive wastes by water, PHMSA must undertake a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). This should include an adequate period for submission of public comments, including public hearings across the U.S. in places that have been targeted in the past for such shipments, or could be in the future. Contact PHMSA Administrator Cynthia L. Quarterman, urging her to undertake a PEIS -- including a public comment period and public hearings -- in order to fully comply with NEPA, as she assured the U.S. Senators that she would. You can email her at phmsa.administrator@dot.gov; fax her at (202) 366-3666; phone her at (202) 366-4433; or send her a letter at Cynthia L. Quarterman, Administrator, U.S. Department of Transportation, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, East Building, 2nd Floor, Mail Stop: E27-300, 1200 New Jersey Ave., SE, Washington, DC 20590. Also, contact your U.S. Senators and U.S. Representative via the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and request that they urge PHMSA Administrator Quarterman to do a PEIS as well. Additional information on the Bruce Power radioactive steam generator shipment from Canada to Sweden can be found on Beyond Nuclear's Canada website section.

Radioactive "cargo" on the Great Lakes would violate Haudenosaunee 7th Generation Philosophy

The Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River contain 20% of the world's surface fresh water.An op-ed in the Toronto Star by associate professor of environment at the University of Toronto, Stephen Bede Scharper, points out that in addition to being the drinking water supply and source of fisheries, the Great Lakes are also the source of emotional and spiritual sustenance for more than 35 million people in the U.S., Canada, and numerous Native American First Nations. Thus it's easy to see how Bruce Power's shipment of 16 plutonium-contaminated steam generators on the Great Lakes, approved by the Canadian Nuclear Safety (sic) Commission on Feb. 4th, would violate not only the Haudenosaunee Seventh Generation Spiritual Philosophy, but also the Preautionary Principle. Speaking of the Haudenosaunee, the Mohawk Nations have spoken out strongly against this shipment, as have a number of other First Nations coalitions in Ontario and Quebec. The fight now may now be moving into the Canadian courts, as well as to the U.S. Department of Transportation's Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. PHMSA's approval is required before the shipment can enter U.S. waters on the Great Lakes. A growing environmental coalition is calling on PHMSA to undertake a full Environmental Impact Statement, complete with public heaings and a public comment period.

KIMO lambasts proposal for BP radioactive waste shipment to traverse European marine waters

16 of these 100 ton radioactive steam generators would sail the Great Lakes and Atlantic, if BP gets its way.KIMO (Kommunenes Internasjonale Miljøorganisasjon, which translates as Local Authorities International Environmental Organisation) -- a European environmental coalition of municipal authorities dedicated to protecting their marine environment homelands -- has spoken out strongly against Bruce Power's (BP) proposal to ship 16 plutonium-contaminated steam generators to Sweden for so-called "recycling." The Studsvik radioactive metal "recycling" facility -- besides contaminating the recycled metal supply with hazardous radioactivity -- also spews radioactive discharges into the Baltic Sea, which does not sit well with KIMO. As also reported on its homepage, KIMO has also spoken out against the hazards of so-called "floating" nuclear power plants, as proposed by the Russian nuclear establishment (the French nuclear establishment, for its part, has proposed underwater atomic reactors for deployment on the ocean floor -- perhaps to complement the radioactive waste its La Hague reprocessing facility already spews into the English Channel?!).

NDP urges Ontario premier to put the brakes on radioactive steam generator shipment

The Ontario New Democratic Party (NDP) has urged Ontario provincial premier McGuinty to postpone any permits for shipping 16 radioactive steam generators from Bruce Nuclear Power Plant to the Port of Owen Sound -- where they would be loaded onto a boat for shipment across the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River to Sweden -- until the province has a solid "low" and "intermediate" level radioactive waste management policy. The NDP also condemned the "special arrangement" between Bruce Power and the Canadian Nuclear Safety (sic) Commission which has been approved, despite this shipment's lack of containers for the radioactive waste, as well as the amount of radioactivity aboard the single vessel, both of which are in violation of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safety standards.

U.S. agency could stop Canadian radioactive waste shipment on the Great Lakes

Eartha Jane Melzer at the Michigan Messenger has reported that the U.S. Dept. of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) could block Bruce Power's proposal to ship 16 radioactive steam generators through U.S. territorial waters on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River, despite Canadian Nuclear Safety (sic) Commission approval of the plan. She quotes Terry Lodge, pro bono attorney for the binational environmental coalition opposing the shipment. Terry first wrote PHMSA on behalf of the coalition nearly five months ago.