Ontario Power Generation's "Additional Information" Under Review
DEADLINE FOR COMMENT IS MARCH 6TH, 2017
Ontario Power Generation's "additional information" about their proposal to bury radioactive waste beside Lake Huron was posted on the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency's Public Registry on January 3, 2017. The reports are filed in response to a February 2016 letter from Minister to OPG requiring additional information from OPG prior to making a decision on the project's environmental assessment.
Registry posting CEAR # 2883 is OPG's required "additional information". Dated December 28th, the reports were posted in the mid-to-late afternoon of January 3rd, and include several files. They are:
Written comments must be sent by March 6, 2017 by mail or email to:
Deep Geologic Repository Project Project Manager Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency 160 Elgin Street, 22nd Floor, Ottawa ON K1A 0H3 [email protected] The Agency will prepare a draft report containing its analysis of the additional information and the comments received. The public and Indigenous groups will be invited to review and comment on the Agency's report at a future date. WHAT CAN YOU DO?
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Ontario Power Generation’s Nuclear Waste Burial Plan: Round Five The webinar provides an overview of key issues, summarize technical reviews by SOS Great Lakes and Northwatch, and help participants prepare for the March 6th comment deadline. Watch it!
MEDIA REPORTS
OPG identifies most of Ontario as alternate "location" to bury nuclear waste Jennifer Wells, Toronto Star, January 10 2017 Ontario Power Generation was asked by the federal government to identify "actual locations" as alternates for its plan to bury nuclear waste. It's now up to the minister as to whether they've done that. OPG report on planned nuclear waste bunker blasted as 'inadequate' The Canadian Press . January 10, 2017 Opponents of a planned nuclear waste bunker have hit back at a report affirming the Lake Huron shoreline as the best place to locate the facility. Registry posting CEAR # 2884 is an "Estimated Timeline for the Review of Ontario Power Generation’s (OPG) Response to the Minister’s Request for Additional Information on the Deep Geologic Repository for Low and Intermediate Level Radioactive Waste Project". According to this initial outline, the review begins with a two week "conformity review" by the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, with input from federal government department. The "conformity review" is basically an assessment of whether OPG provided the information they were told to provide. (Northwatch sent a letter to CEAA last week about the review process, and argued that public intervenors should be invited into the conformity review). CEAA has sent letters to several federal departments inviting their input into the conformity review of OPG's reports
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Background
Thirty-three days of hearings ended in September 2014. Since that time, the three-person panel - appointed by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and the federal Minister of the Environment - have been considering the tens of thousands of pages of written submissions, including OPG's proposal, and hearing transcripts. Final comments were filed by hearing participants - including public intervenors, Saugeen Ojibway Nation, government departments, the CNSC and OPG - in October. Submissions outlined numerous outstanding issues and uncertainties related to the OPG proposal. Transcripts and video recordings of the 33 day hearing are available on-line. Final comments have been posted on the registry. View final select final comments here.
On June 3, 2015 the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency initiated a public comment period for the last phase of the environmental assessment process for the proposed Deep Geologic Repository (DGR) Project for Low and Intermediate Level Radioactive Waste in Ontario, inviting comments on the "potential conditions related to possible mitigation measures and follow-up requirements that could be necessary, if the project is authorized to proceed." By September 1, public comments on the JRP report and the “potential conditions” had to be submitted to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency' . In order to accommodate the 90-day comment period, the 120-day timeline for the EA decision wasg extended to December 2, 2015 (read more) and was then extended into February 2016.
Thirty-three days of hearings ended in September 2014. Since that time, the three-person panel - appointed by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and the federal Minister of the Environment - have been considering the tens of thousands of pages of written submissions, including OPG's proposal, and hearing transcripts. Final comments were filed by hearing participants - including public intervenors, Saugeen Ojibway Nation, government departments, the CNSC and OPG - in October. Submissions outlined numerous outstanding issues and uncertainties related to the OPG proposal. Transcripts and video recordings of the 33 day hearing are available on-line. Final comments have been posted on the registry. View final select final comments here.
On June 3, 2015 the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency initiated a public comment period for the last phase of the environmental assessment process for the proposed Deep Geologic Repository (DGR) Project for Low and Intermediate Level Radioactive Waste in Ontario, inviting comments on the "potential conditions related to possible mitigation measures and follow-up requirements that could be necessary, if the project is authorized to proceed." By September 1, public comments on the JRP report and the “potential conditions” had to be submitted to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency' . In order to accommodate the 90-day comment period, the 120-day timeline for the EA decision wasg extended to December 2, 2015 (read more) and was then extended into February 2016.
Ontario Power Generation is asking the federal government to approve their proposal to bury nuclear waste under the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station, near Kincardine on the eastern shore of Lake Huron.
It's not the only one! The Nuclear Waste Management Organization - an association of nuclear power companies - is currently studying several communities in the Bruce area, a dozen in northern Ontario and three northern Saskatchewan as potential burial sites for high level nuclear fuel waste. Learn more
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Currently, the low and intermediate level radioactive wastes from the Darlington, Pickering and Bruce nuclear generating stations are shipped from the reactor stations to the Bruce station to be incinerated or stored in the Western Waste Management Facility. If the burial proposal is approved, the radioactive wastes stored at the WWMF would be buried on-site.
Low level wastes include contaminated mops, rags, and other industrial items that have become contaminated with low levels of radioactivity during routine clean-up and maintenance activities at nuclear generating stations. Intermediate level radioactive waste consists primarily of used nuclear reactor components, ion-exchange resins and filters used in reactor water filtration systems. Intermediate level wastes are highly radioactive. Nuclear fuel waste is called high level waste, and it is not currently proposed to be included in the wastes to be placed in the underground caverns Ontario Power Generation is seeking approval to construct at the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station. However, the Nuclear Waste Management Organization is currently studying more than twenty communities in Canada as potential burial locations for high level waste. Learn more |