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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 2016-11-30, Page 9Wednesday, November 30, 2016 • Lucknow Sentinel 9 NWMO seeks community engagement during preliminary assessment Justine Alkema Clinton News Record The Nuclear Waste Man- agement Organization Learn More Centre has made its home on Albert Street in Clin- ton for the last year and a half. On November 30 from 9 a.m. - 8 p.m., the location will be holding an open house. The NWMO has repeatedly emphasized how critical itis for them to engage the communi- ties they are working in. Cur- rently, Central Huron is one of nine municipalities left (there were 22 originally) that are learning more about their potential suitability for being considered for the location of an underground deep geologi- cal repository (DGR) for all of Canada's nuclear waste. Right now, the process is in its early days. They are nowhere near selecting a site at this time; that will be 5-10 years down the road. Many more steps need to be taken before that point Also, they will not select a location without extremely strong community support "This project has to be safe and a good fit for the commu- nity," said NWMO's Media Relations Manager Marie Wil- son. "Nothing will take place without planning and discuss- ing it with the community. The scope, the location, the timing of fieldwork - that's all planned in collaboration with the com- munity. It's a step by step pro- cess, and the community is Lucknow Minor CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7 Goals by: Easton Stanley, Haley Gibson. Assists: Lane Edgar. Nov. 21 - Lucknow 2, Rip - involved every step of the way." Engagementwill also take place with First Nations and Metis groups in the area. Wilson said that what Cen- tral Huron council has com- mitted to at this point is sim- ply "learning more about their potential suitability for host- ing this project and the site selection process:' The project has the potential to create thousands of j obs from this $22.8 billion dollar project, but any potential impacts from the project would be discussed and managed with the community. Whether this repositorywould be for better or for worse is quite lit- erally in the hands of the com- munity of Central Huron since it is their ultimate decision if they are willing to house the facility or not There are three main reasons why the NWMO Learn More Centre in Clinton is holding this open house. First, they have just refur- bished their centre and are eager to show residents their new and improved user- friendly look Their old centre had easels and poster boards which served their purpose, but ultimately they decided to switch to something more visu- ally attractive and permanent. Information is now on huge, colourful panels attached to the wall; their refurbishments also include new furniture and cof- fee and tea are available. The second reason for the open house is for people to Hockey Scores ley 4 Goals by: Lane Edgar, Will Davey. Assists by: Branson Andrew, Lane Edgar, Kyle Hogan. simply learn more about the project "For people that don't have a lot of knowledge about the pro- ject and the site selection pro- cess, this is a really good oppor- tunity to come in," sad Wilson. 'We'll have a number of subject specialists here including experts who will be able to talk about geology as that's a very important part of the process' The third reason is to interact with residents about where the NWMO is at in the site selection process with Central Huron, which is preliminary assess- ment. This is where the com- munity explores their potential suitability for meeting the very robust technical requirements ofthe project and also the social requirements. Preliminary assessment unfolds in two phases. The first is desktop information, which is the phase they are currently in. The second phase is actual fieldwork which first includes digging one initial borehole to test the general geology of the area. The borehole is not expected to be a repository site. "The NWMO and the munic- ipality are basically working together to plan for the poten- tial drilling of an initial bore- hole;' said Wilson. "The NWMO is currently doing a technical review of a number of munici- pally owned land parcels. What we're doing is making sure these are technicallyfeasible for an initial borehole:' Some questions they are Novice Development Nov. 26, 2016 Lucknow (4) vs Zurich (4) Goals: Nolan Moffat (3), Marlee Courtney M.A.D.D. Huron/South Bruce picks Clinton to kick off Red Ribbon fundraiser Justine Alkema Clinton News Record On Nov 15, 2016 everyone passing through the special RIDE 'Which Roads' pro- gram was stopped for a very special reason. Put on by M.A.D.D. Huron/South Bruce the annual event was to kick off their red ribbon campaign which is run through the holiday season by M.A.D.D. groups across Canada. Not only did this event sig- nify ribbon boxes going into stores, but every driver stopped received a ribbon as well. The ribbons signify something and can be dis- played somewhere. seeking to answer about these land parcels are if there is enough land, if these parcels meet regulatory set backs and what the sur- rounding land uses are. Once they have completed the technical review, the NWMO will go back to council with a shortened list of potential locations that meet the techni- cal requirements. If council is in agreement, the next step would be to engage the public to work with the NWMO to help iden- tify a proposed location for one initial borehole. "We would want to talk to as many residents as possi- ble, because they have spe- cific local knowledge about some of these areas." Wilson emphasized that she does not want the com- munity to see them digging a borehole and think that Cen- tral Huron has been chosen as the site for the facility. It is for research purposes only. According the NWMO, a borehole is "a narrow, deep, circular hole made in the ground using motorized equipment (drilling equip- ment). The process involves drilling the borehole and retrieving cylinder -shaped rock samples, called core. A wide range of testing is per- formed on samples of the core and in the borehole to investi- gate properties of the rock." The borehole is about 5-6 inches in diameter and will go about a kilometre into the Assists: Kyle McGee, Joel Cranston, Nolan Moffat, Marlee Courtney The MADD Huron/South Bruce RIDE campaign recently kicked off for the holiday season. Several stores in the area will have ribbons available in the next fewweeks for a donation. In the past, this event, which has run for around 25 years in this area, has taken place in Wingham, Lucknow, Kincardine and Exeter. All the money raised by the event goes back to the local M.A.D.D. group to go to awareness campaigns such as advertising, school pro- grams and more. Justine Alkema/Clinton News Record NWMO's Media Relations Manager Marie Wilson reads a pamphlet in the NWMO's newly refurbished Learn More Centre on Albert Street in Clinton. ground. There also must be a pre- ferred location for them to dig the borehole; if there isn't, Wilson said they will continue to work with the public until appropriate. All nine municipalities that are still being consid- ered for the facility are also in the preliminary assess- ment stage of the process. "There's nothing immi- nent," said Wilson. All of these things are part of what will be discussed at the upcoming open house on November 30. Residents are also welcome to visit the Learn More Centre any other time of the week; their hours are Monday - Wednesday from 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. There is always someone there to We would like to thank all of our staff (past and present), the good friends and customers for their support and good times we have had together over the last 20 years. We welcome Samantha and Gloria Havens many years of success and happiness as they start their new venture at Mary's Restaurant. Congratulations! Russ & Mary Mackie engage with visitors, however the open house day will fea- ture a geology specialist to talk about more specific issues. The process the NWMO is taking is very, very slow. These are baby steps for a project that is far down the road. However due to the magni- tude of the project, they believe that the pace, deter- mined by the community, and approach they are taking is crucial to the success of the nationally important project. Since the inception of nuclear power in Canada in the 1960's, Canada has produced 2.6 million used nuclear bun- dles; this is enough to fit into seven hockey rinks of radioac- tive waste. The waste has already been created - now the question is where to put it The Lucknow Sentinel Birthday Club Kaleb Donaldson December 3, 2007 9 years old Kolby Donaldson December 3, 2007 9 years old Breeanna Sullivan December 6, 2008 8 years old Your child can be a member of the Sentinel's birthday club call 519-528-2822 to register