Asking Canadian and U.S. federal governments to jointly monitor radionuclides in the Great Lakes
Waterkeeper is one of over 100 organizations from around the Great Lakes who are calling on the Canadian and American governments to list radionuclides as a “chemical of mutual concern” under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (2012). A new report from the Canadian Environmental Law Association outlines the shortcomings of current efforts to track radionuclides and explains what changes need to be done to monitor these radioactive discharges in the Great Lakes.
“The Great Lakes basin is a hotbed for nuclear-related activity, with more than 30 nuclear generating stations, fuel processing facilities, waste disposal and uranium mine tailing sites scattered around the four lower lakes,” points out John Jackson, author of the new report.
As well as nuclear power production and its associated supply chain, there are also numerous medical facilities, universities and some industries located in the Great Lakes Basin that work with radioactive substances. On the U.S. side, weapons-related facilities are also potentially significant radionuclide contamination sources.
You can read the submission below.
