Ontario is considering refurbishing four existing nuclear reactors, and building four new reactors at the Darlington nuclear site near Lake Ontario.
At the request of Sierra Club Canada, the Atlantic Chapter Energy Committee and the Rochester and Niagara Groups have sent letters to Canadian nuclear regulators in opposition to this dangerous expansion of nuclear power near an international water supply.
Overwhelming evidence shows that the operation of the Canadian deuterium uranium (CANDU) reactors results in the emission of conventional and radioactive contaminants into the air, land and surface and groundwater. The radioactive carcinogen tritium, which interacts with human DNA, has been released into the air at Darlington and into Lake Ontario.
The Canada-U.S. Air Quality Agreement places large sectors of northwest New York in its jurisdiction. Additionally, the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement calls for the elimination of toxics such as tritium from the Great Lakes. Canada’s international responsibilities, raised by the Atlantic Chapter, were noted in Ontario’s major newspaper, the Toronto Star.