HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2013-11-28, Page 9THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2013. PAGE 9.
WE’LL KEEP YOU ROLLING
40356 LONDESBORO RD.,
LONDESBOROUGH
BUSINESS: 519-523-4742
TOLL FREE: 1-877-619-7877
www.townsendtire.ca
YOUR WINTER TIRE/WHEEL
SPECIALISTS
MANY USED SNOW TIRES
IN STOCK
WINTER TIRE
STORAGE AVAILABLE
M.G.M.
TOWNSEND TIRE
We sell and maintain all types
of tire pressure sensors as well.
273 Hamilton St., Blyth • 519-523-4590
www.blytheastsidedance.com
Blyth East Side Dance
Learn
the Foxtrot
Continued from page 8
Wingham 6; Listowel 5, Walkerton 1;
and Mitchell 3, BCH 1.
Scores from games played Tuesday
in Wingham were Kincardine AE 1,
Blyth Brussels 5; Plattsville 1, South
Bruce 5 and Kincardine 2, Twin
Centre 1.
Games on Wednesday in Wingham
had Listowel edging South Huron 3-
2, Flesherton defeating Kincardine
AE 3-1 and Zurich scoring a 4-1
decision over Arran Elderslie.
On Thursday, the results were
Kincardine AE 1, Minto 3;
Walkerton 0, Ayr, 9 and Tavistock 4,
Mitchell 0.
The results from Friday were:
Walkerton 0, South Huron 4 and
Wingham 3, Zurich 2.
Results of the games played at the
Blyth and District Community
Centre on Saturday were: Blyth
Brussels 2, Minto 0; Listowel 0, Ayr
3; Plattsville 2, TCDMHA 5;
Lambeth 5, Mitchell 1; Blyth
Brussels 5, Flesherton 2; Embro 2,
TCDMHA 2 and BCH 0, Lambeth 8.
The results of the games played
Saturday in Wingham were: Mount
Forest 1, Kincardine 7; South Bruce
1, Embro 1; Dunnville 3, Twin
Centre 2; Wingham 2, Grand Valley
1; BCH 0, Tavistock 3; Dunnville 10,
Mount Forest 2 and Grand Valley 5,
Arran Elderslie 2.
Blyth Brussels Crusaders
sweep round robin
Tough loss
The Blyth Brussels Midget Crusaders were in action on
Sunday as part of the annual Silver Stick tournament that’s
held in Blyth and Wingham. Here, the Crusaders take on
South Bruce in the tournament’s semifinal game at the
North Huron Wescast Community Complex in Wingham on
Sunday. Unfortunately for the locals, they came out on the
wrong end of a 9-1 score. (Jim Brown photo)
NH Council educated on Deep Geological RepositoryNorth Huron Township Council
heard two sides of the multi-faceted
nuclear deep geological repository
(DGR) plan being proposed by
Ontario Power Generation (OPG)
and have information to work
through before deciding whether to
support it or not.
During its Nov. 18 meeting,
council welcomed representatives of
the Nuclear Waste Management
Organization (NWMO) as well as
representatives from several groups
opposed to the deep geological
repository.
Marie Wilson, Public Engagement
Specialist for OPG explained the
facility, which will be built in close
proximity to the Bruce Nuclear Plant
and, for 30 years, will take in low-
and intermediate-level nuclear
waste.
Wilson repeatedly emphasized that
there would be no high-level
radioactive waste stored at the site.
This includes the fuel rods that are
used to power a nuclear reactor.Currently, low- and intermediate-level waste is held at the Western-Waste Management Facility which islocated at the same site as the Bruce
Nuclear.
“Low-level waste is items used in
clean-up and maintenance such as
mop heads, cloths, paper towels and
protective clothing,” she said. “Much
of it is incinerated to reduce volume,
but it doesn’t store radioactivity. It’s
stored as ash.”
She said the low-level waste is
mildly contaminated and requires no
shielding to be safely handled.
Intermediate-level waste has much
higher radioactivity that lasts much
longer, she says, and includes resin
beads, filters for the reactor’s water
systems and other items that have
longer lasting radionuclides.
“Shielding is required during
transportation, handling and storage
for intermediate level waste,” Wilson
said.
Waste from the Bruce, Pickering
and Darlington nuclear plants will be
stored at the site if it is approved and
built, and housed in concretebuildings underground, similar to awarehouse. It will be in use for 30years.One of the major concerns council
had prior to the meeting was
transportation of radioactive waste
through Huron County and
specifically through North Huron on
County Road 4 and Highway 86.
Wilson explained that unless there
were some unforseen circumstances,
she didn’t believe there was any
waste travelling through North
Huron for OPG, that said, there are
approximately 1,000,000 shipments
of radioactive waste made each year
across Canada and the OPG is only
responsible for about 800.
Wilson also stated that in 40 years
OPG has never had an issue with a
shipment that resulted in the release
of radioactive material.
She said there are response teams
on hand if anything goes wrong, but
with quarterly inspections, qualified
drivers and a high frequency vehicle
replacement plan, that is unlikely to
be necessary.
“The drivers are extremely skilled
and well-trained,” she said. “They
have all kinds of training including
load procurement, defensive driving
and skid school and are subject to
individual evaluations every two
years by a third-party driving
company.”Wilson also explained emergencyservices personnel near the routeswaste does travel have specialtraining to deal with any issues that
would arise on shipping routes.
Later in the meeting, Councilor
Bernie Bailey, who originally raised
the issue of council weighing in on
the DGR, questioned whether
emergency services group in Huron
County had been trained.
“I’m not aware if they have,”
Wilson stated. “If that’s something
council would find beneficial, I
would pass that on to the OPG.”
She went on to explain that the
training sessions for the emergency
organizations are held annually and
had just finished or were in the
process of finishing and any
additions to the program would have
to wait until next year.
A senior engineer for the program
also spoke, explaining why the
Bruce site made sense for the DGR
citing the natural stone barriers,
seismically predictable landscape
and a geologically stable site.
The DGR itself is designed to be
closed after 30 years and essentially
to never be opened again. While
some of the low-level waste will
remain radioactive for 300 years, a
small percentage of the intermediate
level waste will remain radioactive
for 100,000 years according toWilson.The facility will hold 200,000cubic metres of waste, 80 per cent ofwhich is scheduled to be low-level,
and will be located 680 metres
underground.
Located in what is expected to be
very-low permeability limestone, the
facility will rely on that, plus the
200-metre thick cap of shale, which
should also have little permeability,
Wilson said the DGR was
necessary because a long-term
solution is needed for low and
intermediate-level long term waste
and stated OPG is responsible, under
the Federal Radioactive Waste
Management System, for creating
said solution.
“Geologic repositories are
internationally-accepted best
practices for isolating and containing
nuclear waste,” Wilson said, pointing
out that 31 countries have reactors
and are considering DGRs. “This is
not a unique-to-Canada situation.”
Deputy-Reeve David Riach asked
Wilson if there was any possibility of
reusing the waste that would be
stored. She explained that aside from
repurposing used nuclear fuel rods,
there wasn’t really any purpose to
recycle low to intermediate level
waste, stating most of it is ash by the
time it’s stored.
Following Wilson’s presentation,
representatives from the Inverhuron
Committee, a group from
Inverhuron, a community near the
Bruce Nuclear Power Plant, and the
Northwatch group, spoke not against
the idea of the DGR, but against
some of the realities of the plan.
While both stated there were
problems with the plan and
suggested alternative sites needed to
Continued from page 2
bargains for many of the 50 or so
bidders at the end of the day. Thanks
to Comrades Sandra Josling and
Deb Cann for setup and working,
Linda Bird and Catrina Josling for
the afternoon shift and Dianne
Machan, Deb Ross and Jo-Ann
McDonald for helping at the end. It
was a successful day with the funds
going to the accessibility fund.
There were two teams
participating in zone team darts in
Wingham on Saturday. They had a
good day of play and some will
advance to district play.
Participating in the day was the team
of Ken Bird, Ron Schmidt, Bob
Richardson and Dan Byersbergen.
The other team was Daisy Wong,
Deb Cann, Eric Ross and Gord
Jacklin. Congratulations to those
advancing.
Are you one of the few who have
not paid their dues for 2014? The
early bird rates end on Saturday, so
drop by the Branch today. Rates go
up in December.
Early-bird pricing ends
on Legion dues soon
By Denny ScottThe Citizen
Continued on page 17