Bruce Power plans to ship waste on Great Lakes

A nuclear safety expert says a plan by an Ontario plant to transport radioactive waste on the Great Lakes is the safest option.

Bruce Power has applied for a licence to use the Great Lakes to ship decommissioned generators from its plant on Lake Huron, approximately 250 kilometres northwest of Toronto, to Sweden for cleansing.

The plan has upset some politicians and environmentalists.

But University of Toronto physicsProf. Pekka Sinervo says shipping nuclear waste by boat creates the lowest risk of leaks.

He also says nuclear medicine procedures are increasing at hospitals, so shipments of nuclear waste will also increase until a long-term solution is found.

A spokesman for the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission says Bruce Power has applied for a licence to ship low-level generators through the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River.