TIMELINE -NUCLEAR WASTE REPOSITORY CANADA/SAUGEEN SHORES

Transcription

1 TIMELINE -NUCLEAR WASTE REPOSITORY CANADA/SAUGEEN SHORES the establishment of Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. (AECL), a crown corporation with nuclear power development as a major pillar of its mandate construction begins on Douglas Point CANDU nuclear reactor - full commercial operation in 1968/ shut down in production of Bruce Nuclear Power Development (BNPD) starts funded by provincial Crown corporation, Ontario Hydro. Additional nuclear stations throughout Canada built in Pickering, Darlington, Gentilly and Pt. Lepreau Western Waste Management Facility located within the boundary of overall Bruce Power site - developed in stages to accommodate waste produced during reactor operation and maintenance and it receives and manages shipments of low and intermediate level radioactive waste from the Bruce, Pickering and Darlington nuclear power stations month 3-man federal commission recommends burying nuclear waste in Canadian Shield of northern Ontario Douglas Point Reactor shut down federal 10-person environmental assessment panel starts study of the concept of burying nuclear waste > concludes in 1998 that burying waste not acceptable to Canadians and recommends that an independent agency be established to do future research into the long-term management of nuclear waste A panel known as the Seaborn Panel, after its chairman Blair Seaborn, studied the proposal for years. Regarding deep geological disposal, the Seaborn Panel concluded that From a social perspective, safety of the AECL concept has not been adequately demonstrated for a conceptual stage of development. The non-industry evidence and testimony during the hearings demonstrated to the Panel that public trust and social acceptance are undermined when supportive government bureaucracies and waste producers control the technical knowledge and determine the approaches to waste management. In its final report, the Panel recommended that the nuclear waste be managed by an agency at arm s length from industry and from the government Ontario Power Generation (OPG) enters into long-term lease agreement with Bruce Power to take over operation of the Bruce Station federal government passed Nuclear Fuel Waste Act which made an agency controlled by the nuclear waste owners responsible for research options for nuclear waste management Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) created by Ontario Power Generation, Hydro Quebec and New Brunswick Power, the generators and owners of nuclear fuel waste

2 2002- NWMO directed by Nuclear Fuel Waste Act to review three options for long term management of nuclear fuel waste act (continued storage at the reactor site, centralized storage, or geological disposal) and report which option recommended by Nov. 15, federal government gave the nuclear industry permission to begin a search for a suitable site and a willing community used fuel waste from Bruce begins to be stored in the Used Fuel Dry Storage Facility located adjacent to the Western Waste Management Facility Nov. 15, NWMO submits recommendation: Adaptive Phased Management - combines three nuclear waste management options into a 300-year phased approach moving from storage at nuclear plants, to centralized storage, and finally to a deep geological repository The Ontario government directed Ontario Power Generation (OPG) to begin the approvals process to build as many as four additional reactors at the Darlington Nuclear Station east of Toronto. The three new reactor designs under consideration differ significantly from all CANDU reactors to date in that they will use enriched uranium as a fuel source. All currently operating CANDU reactors in Canada use natural uranium as fuel source. This shift from natural to enriched reactor fuel creates additional radiological hazards for reactor operation and for radioactive waste management, but NWMO projections do not take this into account into its risk assessments federal government announced its acceptance of Adaptive Phased Management recommendation May NWMO formally launched their search for a Canadian community willing to host a deep geological repository to place all of Canada s highly radioactive used nuclear fuel WHAT IS SAUGEEN SHORES INVOLVEMENT? April 16, Kincardine and OPG signed a memorandum of understanding which set out the terms to develop a plan for the long-term management of low-level and intermediate-level waste at the WWMF Oct. 13, Kincardine and adjacent municipalities of Saugeen Shores, Huron-Kinloss, Arran-Elderslie, Brockton sign Hosting Agreement of the Low and Intermediate Level Radioactive Waste Deep Geological Repository with (Ontario Power Generation) OPG. All the municipalities will receive payments from OPG from , with Saugeen Shores receiving approximately $250,000 per year as well as one-time payments of $500,000 in 2005 and In exchange for this money, the adjacent municipalities agree to exercise what OPG determines to be their best efforts to support the operation of the DGR.

3 Feb. 28, by this date, Kincardine is to have completed a community consultation to satisfy that there is a clear mandate by Kincardine population to Kincardine Council in favour of the DGR. There is no offer for community consultation with the adjacent municipalities of Saugeen Shores, etc. although they will be accepting money from OPG until 2034 and their actions are certainly going to affect their constituents. August Saugeen Shores Mayor Mike Smith talks to NWMO representatives at AMO (Association of Municipalities of Ontario) Annual Conference in London, Ontario Sept. 28, Mayor Smith receives letter from NWMO referring to mayor s invitation to NWMO to present Saugeen Shores Council with a briefing long-term management of nuclear fuel in Canada Oct. 11, Saugeen Shores Council passes a motion indicating a desire to further investigate the opportunity to participate in the work ongoing by the NWMO to identify a host community for the DGR Dec. 5, Town of Saugeen Shores Council requests that an initial screening be undertaken to determine whether the municipality is a candidate for potential future consideration in the process currently underway to determine a preferred site for Deep Geological Repository for Managing Used Nuclear Fuel and associated facilities. Council reiterated the point that extensive Public consultation is required in order to determine if this is what the people of Saugeen Shores want. December, promised public meeting on the Saugeen Shores Official Plan is cancelled Jan. 9, at the Council meeting Deputy-Mayor Luke Charbonneau states that Council should have been open and transparent about the NWMO and acknowledges that public has reacted negatively in part because of Town s lack of public communication on this issue - Council approves a motion by Mr. Charbonneau to defer a Council invitation to the NWMO to proceed further until after May 14th to allow for public education on the issue. Councillors Frosst, Huber, Legault, Schildroth, Gowanlock, Seaman offer comments supporting this motion. Mayor Smith and Councillor Schildroth suggests creating an ad hoc committee with council, staff and interested members of the public to discuss methods to be used for education and dialogue. Councillor Huber states that she would like opportunities for public dialogue and loud, rowdy forums. Jan. 11, in response to a constituent s requesting that the public education process be extended over summer to allow for summer residents to participate and learn about the NWMO s proposal, Mayor Smith responded: I do agree the May 14 date does not allow enough time to do good job and believe Council will likely agree to extend the time. Feb. 13, Saugeen Shores CAO Larry Allison reports that unnamed members of Council and town staff (and no members of the general public) have met with representatives of the NWMO and decided on a public education process in Saugeen Shores to be completed and allow Council to decide whether to proceed to the next step in the hosting process NO LATER THAN

4 MAY 14TH. The recommended steps do not offer an open public meeting and all proposed information will be provided by the Nuclear Waste Management Organization. Feb 13, When asked to elaborate on his report to Council by Southampton resident, Cheryl Grace, Saugeen Shores CAO Larry Allison says town wants to have Step 2 (Geological Assessment) completed before the summer to provide more information Feb 29, Cheryl Grace submits SOS deputation to the town clerk s office and requests a place on the March 12th, 2012 agenda to present the deputation. Linda White, town clerk, confirms that deputation will be on March 12th agenda. March 7, Linda White, Saugeen Shores Town Clerk, calls Cheryl Grace and tells her that unnamed town staff think that the March 12th council meeting is not the best place to present the deputation. She suggests an NWMO Open House or the May 14th council meeting. Cheryl Grace affirms that she wishes to deliver deputation on March 12th. March 8/9, NWMO sets up education kiosks in Plex. March 12, The SOS Deputation is presented to the Town Council to a packed audience and sustained applause. The council ignores the SOS request to defer any action on the NWMO DGR site selection process until the end of the summer. March 15, In a CTV interview for the weekly show, Provincewide, Saugeen Shores Councillor Taun Frosst states: If we had to vote on this now, we d all vote no and the community can shut this thing down in Steps 3 and 4 when we get into open forums. March 27, first of NWMO Open Houses, this one held at Southampton Town Hall - attended by approx. 75 people (statement by Jamie Robinson, Director of Communications, NWMO). SOS has its own station at Open House. - When asked if NWMO ever has or will participate in a public town hall meeting, Jamie Robinson, and Mike Krizanc, NWMO Communication Manager, state respectively: No, Never, Why would I? and No, it s undemocratic. April 7, SOS and SRA (Southampton Residents Association) sponsor a town hall meeting for all residents of Saugeen Shores and surrounding area. NWMO officials are invited but decline to send a rep. Saugeen Shores Town Councillors Taun Frosst and Gary R. Brown participate in panel discussion. Featured presenter is John Jackson, Director of Clean Production and Toxics for Great Lakes United. Audience participates in Q&A for remainder of 2-hour meeting. Over 200 people attend. April 7, Councillor Frosst states: We will vote to go to step 2 on May 14th- this council is committed - all of us are committed (names all councillors' names) that if you decide you don't want this thing in three months down the road, then it's done. All I'm asking is to wait until May 14th to see if we pass this thing and are still in the running. We don't have to wait till 5, 8-10 years down the road to divide the community. All we've brought forward from May 14th is the

5 screening process. If we pass the screening process we won't have open houses, we will have open meetings, we will find out right then and there whether we have support for this, or no support. If we have no support, we will tell the NWMO, the town doesn't want this. Sources: 1. ROCKENG09: Proceedings of the 3rd CANUS Rock Mechanics Symposium, Toronto, May 2009 (Ed: M.Diederichs and G. Grasselli) Overview of Ontario Power Generation s Proposed L&ILW Deep Geologic Repository Bruce Site, Tiverton, Ontario Mark Jensen, Tom Lam, Dylan Luhowy, Jim McLay, Branko Semec, Robin Frizzell Nuclear Waste Management Organization, Toronto, Ontario 2. Know Nuclear Waste: Wawa Community Brief, Prepared by Northwatch, July 2011; Nuclear Waste Repository Proposed for Eastern Shore of Lake Huron 5. Notes taken by Cheryl Grace from Jan. 9, 2012 and Feb. 13, 2012 Town of Saugeen Shores Council meetings/conversation with CAO Larry Allison (Feb. 13, 2012) 6. DGR Hosting Agreement Between Ontario Power Generation and Municipality of Kincardine, October The Hazards of Generation III Reactor Fuel Wastes - Implications for Transportation and Long-Term Management of Canada s Used Nuclear Fuel - BY Marvin Resnikoff, Ph.D,Jackie Travers, and Ekaterina Alexandrova, Radioactive Waste Management Associates; Prepared under the sponsorship of Greenpeace Canada, May Town of Saugeen Shores, Committee of the Whole Minutes, April 13,2004, April 25, 2005, Oct. 11, 2011; Dec. 5, 2011, Jan. 9, Town of Saugeen Shores, Regular Council Minutes, April 11, Saugeen Times, Town Meeting in Southampton Looks at Nuclear Storage, April 9, 2012