Canadian group denounces uranium shipments to SRSJun 5 - McClatchy-Tribune Content Agency, LLC - Derrek Asberry Aiken Standard, S.C.
The Savannah River Site is expected to receive a liquid form of highly enriched uranium from Canada for processing next fiscal year, but a Canadian council is expected to release a motion denouncing the shipment due to safety and health concerns. More than 6,000 gallons of highly-enriched uranium are expected to leave Ontario, Canada, and land at SRS. The material would travel, via railcar, across the Peace Bridge -- an international bridge that connects the U.S. and Canada -- through western New York, and down to South Carolina. But Bill Hodgson, a former mayor in the Niagara area and a current regional counselor, presented a motion denouncing the transport that was passed by the public works committee of the Niagara Regional Council. The issue will now go to the full council next week. "We disagree with the decision to transport the liquid material through truck and rail," Hodgson said. "We want a risk analysis so we can understand what could potentially happen and so the public can understand, as well." The transaction between the two countries is part of an agreement between President Barack Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The two agreed to expand efforts to return the uranium materials stored at the Atomic Energy of Canada Limited's Chalk River Laboratories in Ontario to facilities in the United States. The uranium would be reprocessed at the site's H Canyon, the nation's only hardened nuclear chemical-separations plant still in operation. Concerns over the shipment of the liquid material have been voiced by U.S. environmentalists as well as congressmen. During a July hearing, Rep. Brian Higgins, R-N.Y., said the liquid form of the uranium is more radioactive and complicated to transfer. "A major contamination in the Buffalo-Niagara region could potentially result, exacting dire consequences on the Great Lakes, the Niagara Power Project and greater Buffalo-Niagara population," Higgins said. Higgins also requested an analysis of the transfer. "A plan that carries this level of risk should not be done without a thorough review," he said. If the Canadian group approves the motion, it would then be passed on to federal government bodies in both states. Derrek Asberry is the SRS beat reporter for the Aiken Standard and has been with the paper since June 2013. He is originally from Vidalia, Ga., and a graduate of Georgia Southern University. Follow him on Twitter @DerrekAsberry. http://www.energycentral.com/functional/news/news_detail.cfm?did=36395382 |