In November 2009, small community
in northwestern Ontario, Ignace,
earned the unenviable distinction of being the first community in Canada
to take a nibble at the NWMO's elusive prize - a "national infrastructure
project" worth $24 billion. Of course, that's not $24 billion for the community
or even for the project. And, of course, to "win" the prize you'd also
have to put your community on the receiving end of the more than
2 million bundles (and growing) of highly radioactive nuclear fuel waste
that has been generated by nuclear power reactors in Ontario, Quebec and
New Brunswick.
Town takes interest in nuclear waste storage
Ignace a long way from making nuclear decisions
Ignace interested in nuclear waste
Township Meets with NWMO to ‘Learn More’
Monday, November 30, 2009
As posted at http://www.chroniclejournal.com/stories.php?id=227668
EVEN before he would agree to say more, Ignace Mayor Lionel Cloutier felt he had to say that he and his council simply want to know more about nuclear waste storage.
Such is the politically charged nature of the longstanding search for a place to put spent nuclear fuel from Canada‘s reactors where it won‘t harm anyone.
Such too is the unwillingness in some parts of the country to even consider hosting such a facility that those tasked with finding a site are willing to fly even mildly curious municipal councillors to Kincardine to tour the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station in order to see how the material is currently stored, above ground.
For decades, Canada has been exploring the feasibility of sinking a shaft and building a huge series of containment tunnels deep in the stable granite of the Canadian Shield to store nuclear waste. But each time there is any move to suggest active consideration of a site, the controversy about safety arises.
How can we be certain that material which
remains radioactive for tens of thousands of years will remain enclosed
in lead and concrete a mild underground and not somehow migrate into groundwater
and ultimately poison living things?
That is among the considerations of Mayor
Cloutier and his council as they debate the merits of the information they
collected in Kincardine last week.
Another consideration, of course, is the enormous economic impact that such facility will have on whatever Canadian community agrees to be its home whenever that decision is ultimately made.
Ignace is not unlike a lot of small communities seeking alternatives to existing economic hardships and hosting this national facility would, in Cloutier‘s mind, mean “hundreds of new jobs and billions of dollars for the Northwestern Ontario economy.”
Considering the scale of this eventual project, and the political and public sensitivity surrounding all things nuclear, there is no doubt that it will be an enormous national undertaking with all of the concurrent economic benefits that its spare-no-expense scale will involve.
In the final analysis, of course, no one
can guarantee that there will not be some level of potential danger involved.
But the research that has gone into this
proposal already, and that which will follow once a design and site are
chosen, will minimize it as much as humanly possible.
Will that be enough for Mayor Cloutier
and his council or, more likely, their successors once this decision is
finalized?
Will it be enough for Northwestern Ontario
and for other parts of Canada through which the material will travel?
That‘s the other unknown but the Ignace council is at least willing to be the first in Canada to begin to ask the questions. Good for them.
BRYAN MEADOWS
11/27/2009
Ignace councillors want to know more about nuclear waste storage in the Canadian Shield.
And before he went on, Mayor Lionel Cloutier stressed during an interview Thursday that council is simply “investigating‘‘ the concept.
A delegation travelled to southern Ontario this month to attend the Nuclear Waste Management Organization‘s (NWMO) Learn More program, which makes information and funding available to help communities, organizations and individuals learn more about adaptive phased management of nuclear waste storage.
“I‘m not totally against it,‘‘ said Cloutier. “I just think it‘s worth investigating.”
The two-day fact-finding trip took councillors to the Kincardine area where spent nuclear fuel is being stored above ground near the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station.
“I want to stay out there as skeptical,” Cloutier said. “I want to ensure everything is proven (before committing to underground storage of nuclear waste). We need to know the safety of it and how they plan to do it.”
He said he realizes that the “whole issue is controversial. The not in my backyard syndrome prevails from attitudes of years gone by.”
He said he felt that way too, “but (his views) have changed somewhat after visiting the Kincardine facility firsthand.”
“Today when I hear nuclear, I think of medicine, cures for cancer, clean sources of energy for Ontario Power Generation plants,” he said, adding that if he could be assured of the safety of deep-underground waste storage, “my new vision is a world-class centre of excellence in proximity to our community, hundreds of new jobs, and billions of dollars (for) the Northwestern Ontario economy.”
But that‘s a long way off.
“First we need to know if we have the right terrain and bedrock,‘‘ said Cloutier. “That involves a lot of specialized work, and even going that far will create a great deal of economic activity for the entire region,” he said, noting town council would have the option of cancelling the investigation at any time.
NWMO spokesman Michael Krizanc said Thursday that Ignace is the first community “anywhere” to make arrangements to visit the Bruce nuclear plant and waste management facility under the Learn More program.
The program is the result of NWMO consultations launched in May with organizations and individuals. Comments and views gleaned from the sessions are being used to refine and confirm an open, transparent, fair and inclusive process for selecting a site for the long-term management of Canada‘s used nuclear fuel.
During their tour, the Ignace delegates visited the NWMO offices in Toronto and the Bruce plant, where they had an opportunity to meet with NWMO staff and learn about adaptive phased management.
Also explored were the deep geological repository project; NWMO‘s proposed process for selecting a site; the need for an open and transparent process and involvement of people in any community interested in the project; involvement of Aboriginal peoples; and the regulatory approval process of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.
Krizanc said NWMO is interested in learning from communities the kind of information they might require as they gauge interest in hosting a geological repository once the siting process is launched.
“For us, it‘s a learning experience so we can better understand what kind of questions communities might (have),” Krizanc said.
The NWMO will not be looking for a site until the selection process has been finalized.
As for the next steps in Ignace‘s nuclear waste storage investigation, Cloutier said council plans to apply for funding from NWMO to hire an independent expert/consulting firm.
Consultants would help the community understand the long-term care of used nuclear fuel produced by Canada‘s nuclear reactors, he said, noting area residents would be fully engaged and consulted during development of any long-term vision or strategic planning exercise.
“There has been no commitment,‘‘ said Cloutier. “We‘re just putting it out there to check it all out.”
Meanwhile, efforts by NWMO continue to refine its draft siting plan for long-term safe containment and isolation of Canada‘s used nuclear fuel.
The $16- to $24-billion project will involve development of a repository and a centre of expertise.
The document, Proposed Process for Selecting a Site, is available on the NWMO website.
The nuclear waste project will be implemented through a long-term partnership between the NWMO and a willing community. The system will be designed so that the waste will be continually monitored and retrievable for an extended period of time, NWMO says.
The centre of expertise will focus on technical, environmental and community studies related to the design and operation of deep geological repositories. It will become a hub for national and international scientific collaboration for many decades, NWMO says.
Construction of the facility will proceed after NWMO demonstrates that all safety, health and environmental protection standards set by regulatory authorities can be met or exceeded, it says.
Based in Toronto, NWMO was established
in 2002 by Ontario Power Generation Inc., Hydro-Quebec and New Brunswick
Power Corporation in accordance with the Nuclear Fuel Waste Act to assume
responsibility for the long-term management of Canada‘s used nuclear fuel,
which is created as a result of nuclear power production.
2009-11-19 at 19:20
Ignace
a long way from making nuclear decisions
By tbnewswatch.com
ROCK 94
Officials in Ignace say they're still a long way from reaching a decision to apply to be a host site for Canada's nuclear waste.
Ignace has taken the initial steps in exploring the possibility of hosting an underground repository for used nuclear fuel. But the decision to move ahead might not be Ignace’s alone. Thunder Bay Mayor Lynn Peterson said such a proposal would require extensive public consultations in both the host community and every town that the nuclear material would pass through.
Wayne Hanchard, the administrator for the township of Ignace, says the community is still a long way from making a formal application of interest with the nuclear waste management organization. The agency is mandated by the federal government with finding a "suitable and willing community" to become a host site for a deep geographical repository of the country's used nuclear fuel.
Hanchard said they still don't know if Ignace would be a suitable site for the estimated $20-billion project.
Hanchard said if Ignace goes forward with an expression of interest next summer, then studies into the geography and technical issues involved would be undertaken as part of determining Ignace’s suitability as a potential host site.
In Thunder Bay, Mayor Peterson said she doesn't believe the city would ever consider a nuclear repository within the municipal boundaries, as it would be better suited in a remote location. But with the struggling economies across the Northwest, she's not surprised that other communities in the Northwest may be considering the idea.
She added that she wouldn't oppose the nuclear waste being transported through Thunder Bay.
Ignace Coun. Dianne Loubier said she expects council to pass a resolution in the next month or so formally requesting the Nuclear Waste Management Organization to go ahead with an independent feasibility study, which begins by collecting data on the area's potential.
Ignaces's next council meeting is scheduled
for Nov. 25, and Loubier said the public is welcome to ask questions about
the proposal at that time
2009-11-13 at 19:43
Ignace
interested in nuclear waste
By tbnewswatch.com
The township of Ignace has taken the first step in possibly becoming a host site for Canada's used nuclear fuel.
Mayor Lionel Cloutier and other Ignace officials met with the Nuclear Waste Management Organization in Toronto last week to learn more about having an underground repository near the community. Officials with the agency say that, to date, Ignace is the only community to express an interest in the site selection program.
Ignace and its 1400 residents have been hit hard by downturns in the forest industry over the last several years. Nuclear Waste Management officials say the economic benefits to the community selected are estimated be up to $20 billion. The agency was established in 2002 to manage Canada's used nuclear fuel through construction of a Deep Geologic Repository in a suitable and willing community. Officials with the agency tell TBT News the meeting with
Ignace officals is the initial step of a program which takes interested communities through a decade-long process to allow possible sites to make an informed decision. The earliest a storage repository would possibly be in operation is 2035.
Scroll down on the "Living in Ignace" page
on the Township of Ignace's web site (http://town.ignace.on.ca/siteengine/activepage.asp?PageID=17)
and you will find their report on their trip south in early November to
the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station and the NWMO offices in Toronto. It
is copied as text into this email.
Touring waste management facility
Members of Ignace Council and the community
toured Ontario Power Generation’s Western Waste Management Facility in
Bruce County on Nov. 6. Nuclear Waste Management Organization employees
Ben Belfadhel and Peter Simmons (left) hosted the group’s visit to storage
facilities for high level radioactive waste. The large containers hold
used nuclear fuel bundles from the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station. Ignace
visitors to the site included (left to right) Dianne Loubier, John Taddeo,
Chicki Pesola, Doug Pronger, Gloria Casey, Wayne Hanchard, Sherrill Musclow,
Lionel Cloutier, Maureen Zappitelli, and Brad Greaves.
Township Meets with NWMO to ‘Learn More’
As part of a “Learn More” program sponsored by the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO), representatives and community members from the Township of Ignace visited the offices of the NWMO in Toronto on November 5-6. The “Learn More” program was developed by the NWMO to allow communities like Ignace to become more familiar with and get more information about the future plans of the NWMO. The NWMO is mandated to locate, construct and operate a deep geologic repository (DGR) for the storage of used nuclear fuel in an informed and willing host community. During the visit, Township representatives and community members met with a number of NWMO staff to learn about Adaptive Phased Management, Canada’s plan for the long-term management of used nuclear fuel. They also visited Ontario Power Generation’s (OPG’s) Western Waste Management Facility in Kincardine, Ontario.
In describing its proposed site selection process, the NWMO informed the Township that when it begins to consider expressions of interest, likely in mid-2010, it will require the support of an accountable authority, such as a municipal council, in order for a community to be considered and to begin moving through the steps of the siting process. The NWMO anticipates that the siting process could take between seven and ten years to complete. Ultimately, there will have to be a compelling demonstration of willingness expressed by the citizens of any community after a long period of site assessment, and learning about the project, before it is selected to host the deep geological repository.
At the meeting, the Township indicated it needed to learn more about safety, security and other issues involving the transportation, handling and storage of used nuclear fuel. There are proponents and opponents of the NWMO plans for the long-term management of used nuclear fuel. Township representatives think it is paramount that information and viewpoints from both sides be considered in order to become well informed about the subject. The impact on the community, both positively and negatively will also have to be carefully understood. The Township will continue to explore the pros and cons of this concept.