Kincardine Council

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Ontario Power Generation (OPG)'s proposed Deep Geologic Repository (DGR) project at the Bruce Nuclear site is gearing up to reach its next milestone.

Marie Wilson is media relations manager for the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) which has been contracted by OPG to provide the technical service and other support through the regulatory approvals process for the DGR. The repository would hold low-level and intermediate-level nuclear waste only.

Wilson and Don Jones, OPG's acting director of engineering, brought Kincardine council up-to-date on the project at the meeting Wednesday night (March 2).

The next milestone, said Wilson, is the submission of the Environmental Impact Statement and Preliminary Safety Report which is expected this year.

"The Environmental Impact Statement is 10,000 pages long," she said, "but the summary is only 60 pages."

This key document will go out to the public for review and input, and then go to the joint review panel.

"The public review period is six months," said Wilson. "This project will not succeed without strong community support."

Next year, a public hearing would be held before the joint review panel which would then submit its recommendation to the federal environment ministry. The final decision would be made by the federal government and, if favourable, the next step would be site preparation and a construction licence, says Wilson.

Jones stressed that OPG will be the licensee and operator of the DGR. NWMO is assisting with the regulatory approvals process. NWMO is also working on the adaptive phased management for the storage of high-level waste but that is completely separate from the DGR.

Wilson said the proposed DGR would be built 680 metres under the ground, with two panels of emplacement rooms. It has the capacity for 200,000 cubic metres of low-level and intermediate-level waste from all OPG-operated nuclear reactors.

She noted that the extensive four-year study and geo-science all indicate that the DGR would not have any significant adverse effects on the public or the environment.

Wilson said the limestone and shale in the rock at the Bruce site provide good multiple natural barriers to protect the environment. She showed council samples of the limestone and shale which were bored from the rock deep underground where the project would be located.

When questioned, she reassured council that only low-level and intermediate-level nuclear waste would be stored in the DGR. That's what the Environmental Assessment dictates, and that's the agreement that Kincardine council has in place, she said.

Deputy mayor Anne Eadie said that Lake Huron is very precious to her and to the whole community. However, after six years of working with the Lake Huron Central for Coastal Conservation and serving on the South Bruce Impact Advisory Committee, she is no longer skeptical.

"You have done a good job of getting the information out to the public," she said. "It's a hard project to explain, but after five years of asking questions, I can say that Lake Huron is going to be protected and our community is going to be protected."

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Thursday, March 03, 2011