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Rad waste ahoy!

Steve Orr

Canadian agency has approved the shipment of old nuclear power plant components through lower Great Lakes and out the St. Lawrence River to the Atlantic Ocean. The components -- 16 used steam generators from the Bruce nuclear power stations on the shore of Lake Huron in the province of Ontario -- would be loaded aboard ships. They would move through the southern end of Huron, past metro Detroit and into Lake Erie, then through the Welland Canal into Lake Ontario.

Bruce Power

has six operating reactors that can generate up to 4,768 megawatts of electricity, making it the largest nuclear power installation on the Great Lakes. (Two other Bruce reactors are being refurbished and are to come back on line this year, adding 1,500 more MW in capacity.)

By the way, there are a total of 29 operating reactors on the shores of the Great Lakes with a total generating capacity of more than 22,000 MW -- roughly enough electricity to satisfy the cravings of more than 15 million homes. For better or worse, Lake Ontario has by far the most reactors and great capacity.

I cut and pasted a simple list of the Great Lakes reactors below, if you're interested.

Back to Bruce. As the Montreal Gazette reported

, the decision announced Friday by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission does not sit well with various Canadian groups and critics who aren't thrilled at the idea of tons of radioactive waste moving through the lakes. The material is destined for Sweden, where it will be recycled.

It's not uncommon to replace steam generators, relatively small parts of which are highly radioactive. The Ginna plant just east of Rochester replaced its two generators in 1996. But while the new ones were brought in on a barge, the contaminated old ones weren't shipped away. They're stored on site.

The owners of the Bruce plant are arguing the shipping of the old generators is safe, and that it is environmental friendly to ensure the metal is recycled. Whether the approval given Friday is the end of it, and whether any U.S. agency has any say-so over the shipment, wasn't immediately clear.

Great Lakes reactors

BruceOntarioHuron6         4,768
DarlingtonOntarioOntario4         3,524
PickeringOntarioOntario6         3,100
GinnaNew YorkOntario1            498
FitzPatrickNew YorkOntario1            852
Nine Mile Point 1New YorkOntario1            621
Nine Mile Point 2New YorkOntario1         1,140
PerryOhioErie1         1,261
Davis-BesseOhioErie1            893
Fermi 2MichiganErie1         1,122
Cook 1MichiganMichigan1         1,009
Cook 2MichiganMichigan1         1,060
PalisadesMichiganMichigan1            778
KewauneeWisconsinMichigan1            556
Point BeachWisconsinMichigan2         1,026
TOTALS  29       22,208