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Nuclear waste shipping on Great Lakes protested
A plan to ship 16 steam generators on the Detroit River and Great Lakes has sparked an international outcry.
What alarms residents on the U.S. and Canadian sides of the waterways is the material inside the generators -- nuclear waste.
The generators, which are the size of a city bus, were used by a nuclear power plant in Canada that now wants to send them to a recycling plant in Sweden.
Environmentalists and elected officials said a shipping mishap could contaminate the lakes, a source of drinking water in the region.
They're also worried the plan could lead to more radioactive waste being transported on the Great Lakes.
"It's a bad idea," said Michael Keegan, chairman of the Monroe-based Coalition for a Nuclear Free Great Lakes. "It sets a dangerous precedent."
U.S. and Canadian towns along the proposed route are miffed they were never told about the plan.