Nuclear Canada’s Great Lake Legacy By Krystyn Tully, Lake Ontario Waterkeeper | Photos by Lake Ontario Waterkeeper
»The nuclear industry looms large over Lake On-
tario. Here, uranium is processed and converted into fuel, fuel bundles for nuclear power plants are made and more than a dozen reactors generate electricity for Canada and the United States. Radioactive waste sites mar our landscape. “Nuclear power’s Great Lake legacy is one of the most difficult challenges I face,” says Lake Ontario Waterkeeper Mark Mattson. “Other countries generate nuclear energy, but few have demonstrated the same steadfast devotion as the Ontario and Canadian governments. This is where we subsidize mining, refining, burning and burying to the tune of tens of billions of dollars, where special laws cater to the needs of one industry. This is where we have gambled with the future of one of the world’s largest bodies of freshwater. And where we stand, poised to do it all over again.”
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In 1933, a gold prospector opened the first radium mine in Canada, the second in the world. One decade and ten thousand radioactive ore discoveries later, Canada had emerged as a world leader in nuclear research and development. In the beginning, the nuclear industry on Lake Ontario was part of wartime efforts like the infamous Manhattan Project. When the war ended, the fledgling nuclear industry stayed behind. After a few years, it began to grow again. Two power plants with a combined total of 12 reactors were built on the north shore of the lake. Waste sites sprung up in residential communities. Ships traveling up and down the St. Lawrence Seaway started carrying radioactive materials through our harbours to far away markets. “The nuclear industry came here because it needed deep, cool water and access to markets,”
“It’s a pretty exciting time, if not scary.” Energy consultant John McNeil on the return of nuclear power
The consolidated radioactive waste heap at Port Hope.
Fall 2006 Waterkeeper Magazine
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