Jeremy L. Dillon
RW Monitor
6/6/2014
The Canadian Joint Review Panel responsible for evaluating Ontario Power Generation’s license request to build a deep geologic repository for low and intermediate waste in Kincardine, Ont. has scheduled a new set of public hearings for this fall to discuss information it has received in response to a request to OPG. The next set of public hearings is planned to get underway Sept. 9, according to Lucille Jamault, a spokesperson for the Joint Review Panel. “The objectives of the additional public hearing days are to provide opportunities for the Proponent and Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission to provide their views on the subjects to be addressed and to explain their responses to the information requests issued by the Panel since November 2013; for aboriginal groups, government representatives and the public to provide their views on the subjects to be addressed; and for the Panel to receive the information that will help it complete its assessment of the environmental effects of the project and review the application for a License to Prepare Site and Construct in a fair, informal and expeditious manner,” Jamault said in an email.
The next round of public hearings will also give opponents to the DGR more opportunity to voice complaints against the project. The DGR’s close proximity to Lake Huron has drawn the ire of citizens on both sides of the border because of its proximity to one of the world’s largest sources of fresh water. DGR opponents have also gained ammunition since last fall when a former OPG employee indicated that the calculations for some waste streams that would go into the repository were incorrect, calling into doubt OPG’s analyses of the site.
OPG, for its part, has maintained that the site is protective of human health, and it welcomes the opportunity to thoroughly review the application. “Additional hearing days will allow OPG, the public and the panel to thoroughly review the responses to questions posed by the panel since last fall,” OPG spokesman Neal Kelly said. “We believe we have adequately responded to all of the information requests from the panel since the hearing last fall. Our safety case for the Deep Geologic Repository remains sound.”
The proposed repository would be located beneath OPG’s Bruce nuclear facility. OPG plans on storing low and intermediate waste from its Bruce, Pickering, and Darlington power stations at the proposed repository, which would be located 680 meters (approximately 744 yards) below the surface in an isolated rock formation of shale and limestone. Currently, the licensing of the facility is under review by a Joint Review Panel under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency. After the public comment period, the review panel will submit an environmental assessment report within 90 days to the federal Minister of the Environment with its recommendations for the path forward. Once the federal government gives the go-ahead, the review panel can issue a license to prepare a site and construct the facility.
Michigan Resolution Moves Out of Committee
Meanwhile, a resolution on the planned repository and related legislation introduced two weeks ago in the Michigan state senate has moved out of committee this week with unanimous approval. The legislation now moves to the Senate floor for debate and a vote. The resolution, led by state Sen. Phil Pavlov (R-St. Clair Township), calls on President Barrack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry to submit a letter of reference or to request a binding decision from the International Joint Commission, the inter-country organization established to settle disputes surrounding the Great Lakes. Additional legislation would ban the importation of radioactive waste into Michigan while extending the ban on nuclear waste disposal to include Class C waste and also create the Great Lakes Protection Radioactive Waste Advisory Board to analyze the public health consequences of the proposed site.
