Radioactive nuclear waste buried beside 21% of the world's fresh water supply defies common sense

Reasons To Be Concerned

7.  International Impacts Ignored

Nuclear waste that is toxic for hundreds of thousands of years is not only a local or regional concern.  Forty million citizens in the Great Lakes communities in Canada and the United States are at risk and have not been consulted.

Research by the International Joint Commission indicates measurable transboundary impacts from Canadian nuclear facilities on the Great Lakes.

In its Ninth Biennial Report, the International Joint Commission on Great Lakes Water Quality recognized that a number of radiological contaminants from the nuclear industry should be considered "persistent toxic substances," and that the United States and Canada should aim for the virtual elimination of those man-made substances through a policy of zero discharge, acting on the basis of a "precautionary approach."  The report stated that "The management of radionuclides, including the temporary and long-term storage of nuclear wastes, is a matter of public concern …"²⁰

²⁰ International Joint Commission on Great Lakes Water Quality, Ninth Biennial Report on Great Lakes Water Quality, 1998, See chapter on "Specific Persistent Toxic Substances".