The Lucknow Sentinel, 2013-11-13, Page 5Wednesday, November 13, 2013 • Lucknow Sentinel 5
Joint Review Panel wants more info before OPG DGR decision
Steven Goetz
Kincardine News
The federal panel considering Ontario Power Generation's plan
to bury nuclear waste underground near Lake Huron ordered the
utility to address key concems raised during recently concluded
public hearings.
The project - known as the deep geologic repository (DGR) -
will permanently bury 200,000 cubic metres of low- to intermedi-
ate -level radioactive waste 680 metres beneath OPG -owned land
at the Bruce nuclear site.
The panel ordered OPG in writing on Nov 8 to respond to "a
short but substantive" list of questions related to some of the most
contentious issues surrounding the project.
'Geoscientific Verification Plan (GVP)'
OPG says the rock mass underneath the Bruce site will provide
safe, long-term containment and isolation of the nuclear waste,
which will remain dangerously radioactive for 100,000 years.
But the panel wrote the characterization of the site's geology is
"extremely limited and will require more extensive evaluation:'
OPG is ordered to update plans to verify the site's geology
throughout the DGR's construction and operation.
Ongoing geological verification is crucial because "the geo-
sphere will be subject to considerable change as the construction
process proceeds and development activitywill influence the pre-
existing geosphere environment," the panel wrote.
'Additional detail is required to provide assurance of the integ-
rity and long-term stability of the site-specific geosphere and
engineered barriers to safely contain and isolate [the waste]."
'Significance of Residual Adverse Effects'
The panel ordered OPG to explain how it determined the sig-
nificance of the DGR's potential effects on the environment.
The panel commissioned a report from Dr. Peter Duinker, an
environmental impact assessment expert, which questioned the
"credibility" and "reliability" of the project's environmental impact
statement (EIS).
Duinker criticized OPG's classifications of'high, 'medium' and
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A chainsaw was stolen from the 700 bloc of Wheeler Street
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On Nov. 4 at 11:36 am, the South Bruce OPP received a
report of a theft, sometime between 8 a.m. on Oct. 26, and
1:30 p.m. on Nov 3.
An orange and white Stihl 270 chainsaw with a 16 -inch bar
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The value of the stolen property is estimated to be more
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low' environmental impacts, calling them "arbitrary and largely
unjustified:'
He said the use of 'decision trees' showing how OPG deter-
mined the significance of environmental impacts were "mislead-
ing" with "no justification in the main document" for how OPG
came to its conclusions.
The panel cited Duinker's submission in its written orders and
asked OPG for a "clear explanation" of what the DGR's environ-
mental impacts would be and the logic used to determine the sig-
nificance of those impacts.
DGR Expansion
The panel ordered OPG provide any existing technical docu-
ments and timelines related to the expansion of the DGR to
include decommissioned waste from Ontario's nuclear reactors.
The license application to build the DGR only mentions 200,000
cubic metres of waste. But OPG plans to store at least an addi-
tional 135,000 cubic metres of decommissioned waste from the
Pickering nuclear station after it is mothballed in 2020.
The EIS's cumulative effects assessment and the hosting agree-
ment signed with the Municipality of Kincardine supports up to
400,000 cubic metres of waste.
Opponents claim OPG is presenting a "watered-down" project
to ensure approval and public acceptance during the panel
proceedings.
The Saugeen Ojibway Nation has demanded OPG list exactly
what will be stored in the DGR before they give their approval.
Alternative Means Risk Analysis'
The panel ordered OPG provide a renewed analysis of the rela-
tive risks of alternatives to the proposed DGR.
OPG must use "independent risk assessment experts" to study
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three alternatives: continued storage at the Western Waste Man-
agement Facility, already at the Bruce site; constructing "hard-
ened" surface storage; and a conceptual DGR constructed in the
granite bedrock of the Canadian Shield.
In the DGR's EIS, the analysis of alternative sites "was limited to
locations within the Bruce Nuclear site and a very generic `off the
Bruce nuclear site' location," the panel wrote.
OPG provided no rationale for how they scored each alterna-
tive listed in the EIS so it was impossible to assess, the panel
wrote.
DGR -opponents have said OPG did not fulfill its legal obliga-
tion to consider an alternative site in the environmental
assessment.
OPG told the panel it "did not actively solicit other potential
host communities or undertake geoscientific studies at other
sites" because it required a "willing host community" and the
Municipality of Kincardine was the only one to come forward.
The three-member panel will determine before Nov 29 if it
requires further submissions from OPG before officially closing
the review record.
They will then have 90 days to make recommendations to the
federal minister of the environment who can then authorize the
licence to prepare the site and build the DGR.
For the panel's complete request, visit: http://www.ceaa-acee.
gc.ca/050/documents/p17520/96032E.pdf
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