Sierra Club Canada and the Canadian Environmental Law Association have asked the Federal Court of Canada for a judicial review of two approvals by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission that would allow the shipment of radioactive materials. Michael Binder, head of the commission, said that opposition to the approvals, which would allow Bruce Power Inc. to ship 16 steam generators through the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence Seaway, is "not any more about safety" and is a ploy by anti-nuclear activists to prey on people's fears. However, Richard Lindgren, counsel with the Canadian Environmental Law Association, said that the approvals were granted without conducting an environmental assessment (EA), a violation under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act. The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission staff granted the approvals without an EA, it said, because the commission performed its own equally rigorous assessment, which concluded that "the risk to the health and safety of the public and the environment posed by the proposed activity is negligible." The judicial review applications ask the court to decide whether a federal EA was required by law. "Major policy changes in the handling of nuclear waste should not be made in an ad hoc fashion," said John Bennett, executive director of Sierra Club Canada. In addition, Theresa McClenaghan, executive director of the Canadian Environmental Law Association, said that Canada has "never had any precedent for sending radioactive waste out of our nuclear facilities out of the country in the first place at all." Binder countered by saying that the shipment was safe, involving only a few grams of radioactive material, and that thousands of shipments of radioactive medical isotopes and other substances routinely travel the same route every year. For the full story, see http://www.owensoundsuntimes.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3012274 and http://www.windsorstar.com/technology/Suit+filed+over+waste/4414339/story.html. For the response of Michael Binder and the commission, see http://thechronicleherald.ca/Canada/1232128.html.