Montreal, 100 other Quebec cities protest transport of toxic waste

Montreal's City Council has unanimously passed a resolution protesting the planned transport of 6,074 gallons of highly toxic radioactive waste. The federal government plans to move the highly enriched uranium to lessen the risk of nuclear terrorism, as the waste contains materials used in the first nuclear bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima, The Gazette reported. Last year, Prime Minister Stephen Harper pledged to send the country's HEU to the United States, where the radioactive waste can be blended down into low-enriched uranium and used as fuel in nuclear reactors. The government plans to truck the material from Chalk River, Ontario, to South Carolina over 40 to 50 secret military deliveries over the course of the year. The transports would mark the first time this type of liquid waste would be transported by truck in North America, The Gazette reported. But Montrea, as well as 100 other Quebec municipalities are protesting the plans, and say that one spilled shipment would contain enough toxin to poison the drinking water of an entire city. "These shipments include some of the most toxic elements on the planet, uranium, plutonium and other substances," Montreal Executive Committee Chair Josee Duplessis said.