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Panel OKs Nuclear Shipment On Great Lakes

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) - The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission has approved a shipment of 16 scrapped power generators with radioactive contents across three of the Great Lakes.

The panel announced its decision Friday, turning aside objections from environmentalists and some local officials in the region who said the lakes would be contaminated if there were an accidental spill.

Bruce Power Inc. plans to send the spent generators to a recycling plant in Sweden aboard a 387-foot cargo vessel. Each generator is about the size of a school bus.

The shipment would depart from a port on Lake Huron's Owen Sound and traverse Lakes Erie and Ontario, plus the St. Lawrence River, before reaching the Atlantic Ocean.

The company says recycling the generators would be good for the environment.

Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

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