Canadian officials want more info on proposed waste storage

DETROIT – Canadian officials are requesting more information from a company that wants to store waste from nuclear power plants underground less than a mile from Lake Huron.

The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency sent a 17-page letter Wednesday to Ontario Power Generation, which has proposed burying low- and intermediate-level waste such as clothing and discarded machinery 2,230 feet below the earth’s surface.

The company prefers a site at the Bruce Power Generating Station near Kincardine, Ontario. But at the government’s request, it offered two alternative sites in a January report.

In its letter Wednesday, the Canadian agency asked for more detail about how the alternative sites were chosen.

It raised questions about rock stability and factors such as radiological risks during transportation, accidents and the possibility of acid generation and metal leaching.