Environmentalists denounce Gentilly 2 spruce-up

The Quebec government has announced plans to fix up its nuclear facility Gentilly 2, near Trois-Riviers, at a cost of nearly 2-billion dollars.

Environmentalists, however, question whether Quebec has properly considered the environmental cost of keeping its nuclear plant up and running.

Nuclear reactors produce nuclear waste and that has always been the issue with environmentalists and the Gentilly 2 plant.

And with the Quebec government investing that much money to update the facility, prolonging its life for another three decades, groups like the Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility call it irresponsible says spokesperson Gordon Edwards.

"It has waste that remains dangerous for thousands of years and it has implications for the entire society,"

He decries the fact Quebec still has no long term plan to deal with radioactive waste and is just storing it next to the St. Lawrence, risking contamination.

"It's like building an outhouse before digging the hole."

He believes the money would be better spent investing in alternative energy initiatives that pose less of a risk to the environment.