The Huron Declaration
October 13, 2012
At a Conference on Nuclear Power and the Great Lakes Basin recently held in Huron, Ohio, it was learned that Ontario Power Generation (OPG) is planning to create a deep underground dump for the long-term storage of "low and intermediate level nuclear wastes" from all of Ontario’s nuclear power reactors in very close proximity of Lake Huron. The undersigned individuals are profoundly shaken by that proposition and are taking this occasion to register their opposition to it.
It is universally acknowledged that nuclear waste must be kept away from water circulating through the environment of living things, since water is seen as the main vehicle for eventual dissolution and dissemination of radiotoxic pollutants. When nuclear waste is monitored and retrievable, this can be accomplished through active intervention. However when wastes are abandoned they are effectively beyond human control.
The ultimate purpose of building an underground dump is to abandon the nuclear waste there. The stupidity and arrogance of planning to abandon nuclear wastes near one of the most significant bodies of fresh water in the world defies common sense. In the wake of the Fukushima disaster of 2011 and the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste storage fiasco, we are determined that engineering euphoria not be allowed to guide public policy in matters that transcend existing scientific knowledge and that involve countless generations to come.
We call upon the Governments of Canada and the USA, as well as First Nations, Indigenous Communities and Tribes in the Great Lakes Basin, to vigorously oppose the OPG proposed dump and to prevent its implementation.
It is understood that the proposed OPG dump is not to be used for the storage of irradiated nuclear fuel. However, there is no limitation as to the toxicity, longevity or diversity of radioactive materials to be included in the ill-defined categories of low and intermediate level waste that will be stored there. Indeed, virtually all of the radionuclides found in irradiated nuclear fuel are represented to some degree in these so-called low and intermediate level wastes.
We appeal to all people living in the Great Lakes Basin and their elected representatives to say no to OPG's proposed deep underground dump for radioactive wastes.
Statement endorsed by the following individuals
(affiliations are for identification purposes only)
Kathryn Barnes
Don't Waste Michigan
Lee Blackburn
Sierra Club
Angela Bischoff
Ontario Clean Air Alliance
Greenspiration
Toronto
Mike Carberry
Green State Solutions
Iowa City, Iowa
Corinne Carey
Don't Waste Michigan
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Hélène Connor
HélioInternational
Paris, France
Kay Cumbow
Blue Water Sierra Club, Southeast Michigan Group
Citizens for Alternatives to Chemical Contamination
Great Lakes United Green Energy/Nuclear Free Task Force3
Diane D’Arrigo
Nuclear Information and Resource Service
Washington, DC
Great Lakes United Green Energy/Nuclear Free Task Force
Robert Del Tredici
The Atomic Photographers' Guild
Montreal
Gordon Edwards
Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility
Great Lakes United Green Energy/Nuclear Free Task Force
Montreal, Quebec
Bobbi Filanda
Blue Water Sierra Club
Port Huron, Michigan
Patrick Gibbons
Save Our Saugeen Shores
Saugeen Shores, Ontario
Alice Hirt
Don't Waste Michigan
Michael J. Keegan
Nuclear Free Great Lakes
Great Lakes United Green Energy/Nuclear Free Task Force
Monroe Michigan
Arthur Klein
West Valley Task Force
Sierra Club, Niagara Group
Tonawanda NY
Dave Kraft
Nuclear Energy Information Service
Chicago, Illinois4
John LaForge
Nukewatch
Luck, Wisconsin
Michael Leonardi
Coalition Against Nukes
Toledo, Ohio
Vic Macks
Michigan Stop the Nuclear Bombs Campaign
Peace Action of Michigan
St. Clair Shores, Michigan
Ruth MacLean
Kincardine, Ontario
Esther Marcus
Citizens for Alternatives to Chemical Contamination
Sierra Club, Southeast Michigan Group
Taos Pueblo Grandmother
Patricia A. Marida, Chair
Ohio Sierra Club
NuclearFree Ohio Committee
Ed McArdle
Michigan Sierra Club
Great Lakes United Green Energy/Nuclear Free Task Force
Marti McFadzean
Inverhuron Committee to oppose the DGR at the Bruce
Victor McManemy
Citizens for Alternatives to Chemical Contamination
Great Lakes Songwriter
Alfred Meyer
Physicians for Social Responsibility
New York, NY5
Ethyl M. Rivera,
Sierra Club, Southeast Michigan Group
Alicia Rivers
Central Ohio Sierra Club
Zach Ruiter
Safe and Green Energy
Toronto First Nations Solidarity Working Group
Otetwin Schrubbe
Nottawasepi Huron Band of the Potawatomi
Citizens for Alternatives to Chemical Contamination
Gloria Scicli
Sierra Club, Southeast Michigan Group.
Robert Simpson
Sierra Club, Nepessing Group
Steven Sondheim
Sierra Club, Nuclear Free Activist Group
Jutta Splettstoesser
HuronGreyBruce Citizens Committee on Nuclear Waste
Kincardine, Ontario
Bonnie Urfer
Nukewatch
Michigan
Barbara Warren
Citizens' Environmental Coalition
Albany, New York
