UPDATE as of March 9, 9:20am
A vocal opponent of Ontario Power Generation's planned nuclear waste bunker at Bruce Power says the project should be dismissed as the two-year statute of limitations to approve the project has long since passed.
John Mann of Saugeen Shores says the Canadian Ministry of the Environment has received his submissions calling for Minister Catherine McKenna to deny the application.
Mann was a registered participant in the environmental approval process and the Joint Review Panel hearings on the proposal to bury low and medium level nuclear waste in a facility deep underground in Kincardine.
He says the latest report from OPG suggests the safest and most cost effective route in dealing with the nuclear waste is leaving it at the bruce power site. Mann says that leaves the future of a second nuclear waste bunker for high level spent nuclear fuel in doubt due to the cost and risk of moving it off site.
He says if the nuclear fuel is going to be left on the surface, then there is no urgency to bury the low and medium level nuclear waste.
He calls the plan an obscene waste of tax dollars
He wants to know why there is a rush to low level waste underground while spent fuel is decades away from any resolution?
He tells the environment minister that spending a couple of decades to get it right is not too much to ask when the impact of the project will last forever.
The Ministry of Environment has declined to comment, but has passed on a request from BlackburnNews.com to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency.
The responses are below:
Question 1: What is your response to calls to dismiss the project because the 2-year Statute of Limitations to approve the project has passed?
· On December 28, 2016, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency received additional information from the proponent, Ontario Power Generation (OPG) concerning the Deep Geologic Repository (DGR) Project, in response to an information request made to OPG by the Minister of Environment and Climate Change on February 18, 2016. The Minister’s request is part of an ongoing federal environmental assessment of the proposed project.
· Upon request of the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, a further time limit extension of 243 days was granted by the Governor in Council for issuing the decision statement for the proposed project. On December 12, 2016, a Notice of Extension was posted to the DGR registry page at: http://www.ceaa-acee.gc.ca/050/document-eng.cfm?document=116589 .
· The extension is necessary to allow sufficient time for the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency to conduct its analysis of the additional information submitted by OPG. This time line does not include any time taken by the proponent to respond to any requests for additional information issued by the Agency.
Question 2: A recent report from OPG says the safest and most cost effective solution for low and medium level nuclear waste is to manage it at the Bruce Power site. This puts doubts on plans to move the nuclear fuel waste to another DGR at another location. If the fuel is to remain on the surface, is there urgency to bury the other waste forever?
· Ontario Power Generation is proposing to prepare, construct and operate a deep geologic disposal facility on the Bruce Nuclear Site within the municipality of Kincardine, Ontario to manage low and intermediate waste produced from the continued operation of OPG-owned nuclear generations at Bruce, Pickering and Darlington.
· The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency is currently undertaking a technical review of the recent information that has been submitted by OPG.
· The Agency recently ran a public comment period on the additional information submitted by the proponent. The Agency will take into consideration all comments received during the comment period in its technical review of the additional information.
· The Agency will prepare a draft report containing its analysis of the additional information and the comments received. The public and Indigenous groups will be invited to review and comment on the Agency’s draft report.
· The Agency will also make available for public comment the potential conditions with which the proponent must comply, if the project is allowed to proceed. The legally-binding conditions would include mitigation measures and follow-up requirements for the project.
· The Agency will take all comments received into consideration and submit a final report containing its analysis of the additional information to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change for her consideration.
· The Minister will determine whether the project is likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects and issue a decision statement. In making her decision, the Minister will consider the report of the independent joint review panel on the project, and the report of the Agency on the additional information, including the comments received from the public and Indigenous groups over the course of the entire environmental assessment.
· The Nuclear Waste Management Organization is leading a separate process regarding the disposal of nuclear fuel waste. More information on this adaptive phased management project can be found at https://www.nwmo.ca/