HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News Record, 2016-11-30, Page 22 News Record • Wednesday, November 30, 2016
NWMO seeks community
engagement during
preliminary assessment
The Nuclear Waste Management Organization will hold an
open house on November 30 at their Albert Street location.
They are looking to work alongside the community to enter
the next phase in their preliminary assessment; that next
phase includes the potential drilling of an initial borehole
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 it is
for them to engage the com-
munities they are working in.
Currently, 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 geolog-
ical 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 community. It's a step by
step process, and the commu-
nity is involved every step of
the way." Engagement will
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 poten-
tial to create thousands of jobs
from this $22.8 billion dollar
project, but any potential
impacts from the project
would be discussed and man-
aged with the community.
Whether this repository
would be for better or for
worse is quite literally in the
hands of the community of
Central Huron since it is their
ultimate decision if they are
willing to house the facility or
not.
There are three main rea-
sons 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 vis-
ually attractive and perma-
nent. Information is now on
huge, colourful panels
attached to the wall; their
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.
refurbishments also include
new furniture and coffee and
tea are available.
The second reason for the
open house is for people to
simply learn more about the
project.
"For people that don't have
a lot of knowledge about the
project and the site selection
process, this is a really good
opportunity 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 inter-
act with residents about
where the NWMO is at in the
site selection process with
Central Huron, which is
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preliminary assessment. This
is where the community
explores their potential suita-
bility for meeting the very
robust technical requirements
of the 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
municipality are basically
working together to plan for
the potential drilling of an
initial borehole," said Wil-
son. "The NWMO is cur-
rently doing a technical
review of a number of
municipally owned land par-
cels. What we're doing is
making sure these are tech-
nically feasible for an initial
borehole."
Some questions they are
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 com-
pleted the technical review,
the NWMO will go back to
council with a shortened
list of potential locations
that meet the technical
requirements. If council is
in agreement, the next step
would be to engage the
public to work with the
NWMO to help identify 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."
fi
Wilson emphasized
that she does not
want the
community to see
them digging a
borehole and think
that Central Huron
has been chosen
as the site for the
facility. It is for
research purposes
only."
Wilson emphasized that
she does not want the com-
munity to see them digging
a borehole and think that
Central 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 motor-
ized equipment (drilling
equipment). The process
involves drilling the bore-
hole and retrieving cylin-
der -shaped rock samples,
called core. A wide range of
testing is performed on
samples of the core and in
the borehole to investigate
properties of the rock."
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