JANUARY 2020 UPDATE: In 2013 OPG said the project would not move forward with out the support of the Saugeen Ojibway Nation, and in January 2020 SON's membership soundly rejected the project. OPG says they are looking at options.
Canadian Nuclear Laboratories has proposed a Near Surface Disposal Facility (NSDF) for radioactive wastes on the Chalk River Laboratories site (CRL). The CRL site is located in Renfrew County, ON, on the shore of the Ottawa River, approximately 200 km northwest of Ottawa and close to the community of Chalk River. The NSDF is proposed as an “engineered containment mound” where up to one million cubic metres of radioactive and mixed wastes would be placed over an operating period estimated to be at least 50 years. Nuclear Waste Watch and the Old Fort William Cottagers' Association are participating in a review of the project, along with several Participating Organizations of Nuclear Waste Watch
JANUARY 2017 UPDATE: ONTARIO POWER GENERATION HAS FILED "ADDITIONAL INFORMATION" ABOUT PROPOSED NUCLEAR WASTE BURIAL SCHEME. CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS
News Release
July 18, 2016
Public Interest Groups Advise Federal Minister on
Nuclear Waste Dump Review
Ottawa – Alerting the federal Minister of the Environment and Climate Change to signals from Ontario Power Generation that the utility intends to once more side-step information requirements related to a proposal to bury nuclear waste beside Lake Huron, fifty public interest groups from Canada and the U.S. have sent an open letter to the federal Minister with advice and analysis.
In a response to a letter from the Minister dated July 4th, the open letter critiques Ontario Power Generation's outline of its intended approach to responding to the Minister's request for additional information which she had issued in February.
The joint letter charges that "Ontario Power Generation ...does not intend to respond as directed... Rather than the requested information, they intend to provide... another set of reports that attempt to side step what is required of them."
The letter states "We appreciate that the direction you provided Ontario Power Generation in your February 2016 was an effort to have OPG address some of their repeated failures to meet the requirements of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act. However, as evidenced by their response of April 2016, it appears that OPG continues to be unwilling or unable to meet those requirements."
The public interest groups are also calling on the Minister to consult directly with the public prior to coming to a conclusion on the project.
"Indigenous peoples, past intervenors in the review process and the public more generally must be consulted on the OPG response and other related matters prior to the issuing of your decision statement. Direct consultation by you as Minister is the most appropriate course of action."
Ontario Power Generation’s proposal was to bury 200,000 cubic metres of low and intermediate level radioactive wastes produced during reactor operations deep underground in a series of underground caverns carved out of limestone. In May 2015 a panel appointed by the former Conservative federal Minister of the Environment Peter Kent and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission in 2012 provided the Minister with its final report on the review of Ontario Power Generation’s proposed Deep Geologic Repository for Low and Intermediate Level Radioactive Wastes. The Joint Review Panel (JRP) recommended that the federal minister approve the proposed repository, despite the expert evidence they heard throughout the public hearings about numerous technical uncertainties, and an incomplete plan. In February 2016 the federal Minister of the Environment and Climate Change Catherine McKenna directed Ontario Power Generation to undertake additional studies prior to her issuing a decision.
July 18, 2016
Public Interest Groups Advise Federal Minister on
Nuclear Waste Dump Review
Ottawa – Alerting the federal Minister of the Environment and Climate Change to signals from Ontario Power Generation that the utility intends to once more side-step information requirements related to a proposal to bury nuclear waste beside Lake Huron, fifty public interest groups from Canada and the U.S. have sent an open letter to the federal Minister with advice and analysis.
In a response to a letter from the Minister dated July 4th, the open letter critiques Ontario Power Generation's outline of its intended approach to responding to the Minister's request for additional information which she had issued in February.
The joint letter charges that "Ontario Power Generation ...does not intend to respond as directed... Rather than the requested information, they intend to provide... another set of reports that attempt to side step what is required of them."
The letter states "We appreciate that the direction you provided Ontario Power Generation in your February 2016 was an effort to have OPG address some of their repeated failures to meet the requirements of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act. However, as evidenced by their response of April 2016, it appears that OPG continues to be unwilling or unable to meet those requirements."
The public interest groups are also calling on the Minister to consult directly with the public prior to coming to a conclusion on the project.
"Indigenous peoples, past intervenors in the review process and the public more generally must be consulted on the OPG response and other related matters prior to the issuing of your decision statement. Direct consultation by you as Minister is the most appropriate course of action."
Ontario Power Generation’s proposal was to bury 200,000 cubic metres of low and intermediate level radioactive wastes produced during reactor operations deep underground in a series of underground caverns carved out of limestone. In May 2015 a panel appointed by the former Conservative federal Minister of the Environment Peter Kent and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission in 2012 provided the Minister with its final report on the review of Ontario Power Generation’s proposed Deep Geologic Repository for Low and Intermediate Level Radioactive Wastes. The Joint Review Panel (JRP) recommended that the federal minister approve the proposed repository, despite the expert evidence they heard throughout the public hearings about numerous technical uncertainties, and an incomplete plan. In February 2016 the federal Minister of the Environment and Climate Change Catherine McKenna directed Ontario Power Generation to undertake additional studies prior to her issuing a decision.
Eighty Public Interest Groups Urge Federal Environment Minister:
Reject Lake Huron Nuclear Waste Dump
Reject Lake Huron Nuclear Waste Dump
February, 2016 – Outlining the legal grounds for the federal minister of Environment and Climate Change Catherine McKenna to reject Ontario Power Generation’s bid to bury radioactive wastes right beside Lake Huron, eighty public interest groups from Canada and the US have issued a joint letter as pressure mounts on McKenna to make the right call.
Thanking McKenna for responding positively to the joint letter sent by Nuclear Waste Watch in November by extending the timeline for issuing a decision statement on Ontario Power Generation’s proposal to bury up to half a million cubic metres of radioactive wastes beside Lake Huron, the February 8th correspondence restates that the Joint Review Panel recommendation that Ontario Power Generation’s proposed Deep Geologic Repository for Low and Intermediate Level Radioactive Wastes be allowed to move to licensing was in error, and sets out several examples of how Ontario Power Generation failed to meet the requirements of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act (CEAA 2012), the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) Guidelines, and the JRP Agreement, which are the three legal requirements.
Ontario Power Generation’s proposal was to bury 200,000 cubic metres of low and intermediate
level radioactive wastes produced during reactor operations deep underground in a series of
underground caverns carved out of limestone. Weeks before the federal hearing began in
September 2013, OPG publicly acknowledged its intention to double that amount by adding
decommissioning wastes - including radioactive reactor components and contaminated building
materials and rubble – through a license amendment after approval based on the initial proposal
has been issued.
The proposal faces large and growing public opposition. 184 municipalities representing more than 22 million people have passed resolutions opposing OPG’s proposed waste repository. On November 5, 2015, a bipartisan group of six U.S. Senators and 26 U.S. Representatives from a number of Great Lakes states wrote to Prime Minister Trudeau urging him to block the deep geological repository.
“Momentum continues to build against this burial scheme”, said Kevin Kamps, a radioactive waste specialist with U.S. based group Beyond Nuclear.
“McKenna made a good call in November, extending the deadline for the decision statement on the Joint Panel Report, which allowed her and her staff more time to get to know this file,” commented Brennain Lloyd, a spokesperson with Northwatch.
“Now comes the big test: rejecting Ontario Power Generation’s nuclear waste burial scheme.”
– 30 –
For comment contact:
Brennain Lloyd tel. (705) 497 0373, cell (705) 493 9650
Kevin Kamps tel. (240) 462-3216
February 2016 Letter to Minister Catherine McKenna (PDF)
Thanking McKenna for responding positively to the joint letter sent by Nuclear Waste Watch in November by extending the timeline for issuing a decision statement on Ontario Power Generation’s proposal to bury up to half a million cubic metres of radioactive wastes beside Lake Huron, the February 8th correspondence restates that the Joint Review Panel recommendation that Ontario Power Generation’s proposed Deep Geologic Repository for Low and Intermediate Level Radioactive Wastes be allowed to move to licensing was in error, and sets out several examples of how Ontario Power Generation failed to meet the requirements of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act (CEAA 2012), the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) Guidelines, and the JRP Agreement, which are the three legal requirements.
Ontario Power Generation’s proposal was to bury 200,000 cubic metres of low and intermediate
level radioactive wastes produced during reactor operations deep underground in a series of
underground caverns carved out of limestone. Weeks before the federal hearing began in
September 2013, OPG publicly acknowledged its intention to double that amount by adding
decommissioning wastes - including radioactive reactor components and contaminated building
materials and rubble – through a license amendment after approval based on the initial proposal
has been issued.
The proposal faces large and growing public opposition. 184 municipalities representing more than 22 million people have passed resolutions opposing OPG’s proposed waste repository. On November 5, 2015, a bipartisan group of six U.S. Senators and 26 U.S. Representatives from a number of Great Lakes states wrote to Prime Minister Trudeau urging him to block the deep geological repository.
“Momentum continues to build against this burial scheme”, said Kevin Kamps, a radioactive waste specialist with U.S. based group Beyond Nuclear.
“McKenna made a good call in November, extending the deadline for the decision statement on the Joint Panel Report, which allowed her and her staff more time to get to know this file,” commented Brennain Lloyd, a spokesperson with Northwatch.
“Now comes the big test: rejecting Ontario Power Generation’s nuclear waste burial scheme.”
– 30 –
For comment contact:
Brennain Lloyd tel. (705) 497 0373, cell (705) 493 9650
Kevin Kamps tel. (240) 462-3216
February 2016 Letter to Minister Catherine McKenna (PDF)
News Release
November 19, 2015
November 19, 2015
Public Interest Groups Urge Federal Environment Minister:
Reject Nuclear Waste Dump
Reject Nuclear Waste Dump
Ottawa – Sixty-five Canadian and U.S. public interest groups have sent a joint letter to the federal minister of Environment and Climate Change Catherine McKenna urging her to reject Ontario Power Generation’s bid to bury radioactive wastes right beside Lake Huron.
McKenna has a deadline of December 2nd to issue a “Decision Statement” under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act. The previous government made drastic changes to that Act, including setting strict timelines. They also gave themselves an extension to the original deadline for responding to the hearing Panel’s May 6th report so that the decision date would fall after the October 19th federal election.
Ontario Power Generation’s proposal was to bury 200,000 cubic metres of low and intermediate level radioactive wastes produced during reactor operations deep underground in a series of underground caverns carved out of limestone. Weeks before the federal hearing began in September 2013, OPG publicly acknowledged its intention to double that amount by adding decommissioning wastes - including radioactive reactor components and contaminated building materials and rubble – through a license amendment after approval based on the initial proposal has been issued.
In May of this year a panel appointed by the former Conservative federal Minister of the Environment Peter Kent and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission in 2012 provided the Minister with its final report on the review of Ontario Power Generation’s proposed Deep Geologic Repository for Low and Intermediate Level Radioactive Wastes. The Joint Review Panel (JRP) recommended that the federal minister approve the proposed repository, despite the expert evidence they heard throughout the public hearings about numerous technical uncertainties, and an incomplete plan. The review panel effectively delegated the most important parts of the assessment to bureaucrats within the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, after additional research has been done.
The proposal faces large and growing public opposition. 179 municipalities representing more than 22 million people have passed resolutions opposing OPG’s proposed waste repository. On November 5, 2015, a bipartisan group of six U.S. Senators and 26 U.S. Representatives from a number of Great Lakes states wrote to Prime Minister Trudeau urging him to block the deep geological repository. On September 26, 2015 the Great Lakes Legislative Caucus, a nonpartisan group of state and provincial lawmakers from eight U.S. states (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin) and two Canadian provinces (Ontario and Quebec) passed a resolution opposing the OPG proposed nuclear waste repository or any nuclear waste repository in the Great Lakes Basin. The Great Lakes are the drinking water supply for 40 million people, in eight U.S. states and two Canadian provinces and numerous First Nation communities.
“These wastes have to be isolated from the environment for hundreds of thousands of years; burying them in limestone right beside Lake Huron simply makes no sense”, said Kevin Kamps, a radioactive waste specialist with U.S. based group Beyond Nuclear.
“Ontario Power Generation’s experts during the hearing talked about Lake Huron being large enough to dilute radioactive wastes that leaked from the repository. That a federal hearing panel would accept using the Great Lakes for the dilution of radioactive pollution as a solution to the industry’s waste management problems robs their report of any credibility.” Said Eugene Bourgois, an area resident and the closest neighbour to the proposed dump.
“The Joint Review Panel got one thing right: they named OPG’s proposed burial plan as “precedent-setting” and described it as “likely … to assist” in the push to bury high level nuclear waste. We’ve always seen this project as the nuclear industry’s trial balloon for nuclear waste burial”, said Brennain Lloyd, a spokesperson with Northwatch.
Ontario Power Generation also holds majority control in the Nuclear Waste Management Organization, an association of provincial utilities in Canada who operate nuclear reactors. The NWMO is currently investigating nine communities as potential burial sites for high level
nuclear fuel waste, including 6 in northern Ontario and three in the vicinity of the Bruce nuclear
site.
McKenna has a deadline of December 2nd to issue a “Decision Statement” under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act. The previous government made drastic changes to that Act, including setting strict timelines. They also gave themselves an extension to the original deadline for responding to the hearing Panel’s May 6th report so that the decision date would fall after the October 19th federal election.
Ontario Power Generation’s proposal was to bury 200,000 cubic metres of low and intermediate level radioactive wastes produced during reactor operations deep underground in a series of underground caverns carved out of limestone. Weeks before the federal hearing began in September 2013, OPG publicly acknowledged its intention to double that amount by adding decommissioning wastes - including radioactive reactor components and contaminated building materials and rubble – through a license amendment after approval based on the initial proposal has been issued.
In May of this year a panel appointed by the former Conservative federal Minister of the Environment Peter Kent and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission in 2012 provided the Minister with its final report on the review of Ontario Power Generation’s proposed Deep Geologic Repository for Low and Intermediate Level Radioactive Wastes. The Joint Review Panel (JRP) recommended that the federal minister approve the proposed repository, despite the expert evidence they heard throughout the public hearings about numerous technical uncertainties, and an incomplete plan. The review panel effectively delegated the most important parts of the assessment to bureaucrats within the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, after additional research has been done.
The proposal faces large and growing public opposition. 179 municipalities representing more than 22 million people have passed resolutions opposing OPG’s proposed waste repository. On November 5, 2015, a bipartisan group of six U.S. Senators and 26 U.S. Representatives from a number of Great Lakes states wrote to Prime Minister Trudeau urging him to block the deep geological repository. On September 26, 2015 the Great Lakes Legislative Caucus, a nonpartisan group of state and provincial lawmakers from eight U.S. states (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin) and two Canadian provinces (Ontario and Quebec) passed a resolution opposing the OPG proposed nuclear waste repository or any nuclear waste repository in the Great Lakes Basin. The Great Lakes are the drinking water supply for 40 million people, in eight U.S. states and two Canadian provinces and numerous First Nation communities.
“These wastes have to be isolated from the environment for hundreds of thousands of years; burying them in limestone right beside Lake Huron simply makes no sense”, said Kevin Kamps, a radioactive waste specialist with U.S. based group Beyond Nuclear.
“Ontario Power Generation’s experts during the hearing talked about Lake Huron being large enough to dilute radioactive wastes that leaked from the repository. That a federal hearing panel would accept using the Great Lakes for the dilution of radioactive pollution as a solution to the industry’s waste management problems robs their report of any credibility.” Said Eugene Bourgois, an area resident and the closest neighbour to the proposed dump.
“The Joint Review Panel got one thing right: they named OPG’s proposed burial plan as “precedent-setting” and described it as “likely … to assist” in the push to bury high level nuclear waste. We’ve always seen this project as the nuclear industry’s trial balloon for nuclear waste burial”, said Brennain Lloyd, a spokesperson with Northwatch.
Ontario Power Generation also holds majority control in the Nuclear Waste Management Organization, an association of provincial utilities in Canada who operate nuclear reactors. The NWMO is currently investigating nine communities as potential burial sites for high level
nuclear fuel waste, including 6 in northern Ontario and three in the vicinity of the Bruce nuclear
site.
Public Interest Groups Issue Open Letter to Government of Ontario
Federal Report is Flawed – Ontario Must Take Action
Federal Report is Flawed – Ontario Must Take Action
Queens Park, Toronto – Calling the federal review report issued last week on a proposal to bury nuclear waste beside Lake Huron “deeply flawed”, one hundred public interest groups have issued an “Open Letter to the Government of Ontario”, calling on the Province to step up in light of a failed and flawed federal process.
The letter calls on the Government of Ontario, as the sole shareholder of Ontario Power Generation, to direct the provincial utility to withdraw its proposal to bury hundreds of thousands of cubic metres of radioactive waste in limestone caverns beside Lake Huron, beneath the Bruce Nuclear Site. Ontario Power Generation is the proponent of the burial scheme.
Last week, a panel appointed by the federal Minister of the Environment and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission in 2012 provided the Minister with its final report on the review of Ontario Power Generation’s proposed Deep Geologic Repository for Low and Intermediate Level Radioactive Wastes. The Joint Review Panel (JRP) recommended that the federal minister approve the proposed repository, despite the expert evidence they heard throughout the public hearings about numerous technical uncertainties, and an incomplete plan. The proposal faces large and growing public opposition.
“They got it wrong – plain and simple” commented Eugene Bourgeois, closest neighbour to the Bruce Nuclear site.
“There are layers on layers of dishonesty at play here. This federal panel has now teamed up with the nuclear industry to rush ahead with unproven technologies to bury wastes OPG claims are being safely managed where they are, and to continue to ignore some of the most vulnerable and most hazardous wastes, like AECL’s shut-down reactor at Douglas Point.”
Ontario Power Generation’s proposal was to bury 200,000 cubic metres of low and intermediate level radioactive wastes produced during reactor operations deep underground in a series of underground caverns carved out of limestone. Weeks before the federal hearing began in September 2013, OPG publicly acknowledged its intention to double that amount by adding decommissioning wastes - including radioactive reactor components and contaminated building materials and rubble – through a license amendment after approval based on the initial proposal has been issued.
The letter calls on the Government of Ontario, as the sole shareholder of Ontario Power Generation, to direct the provincial utility to withdraw its proposal to bury hundreds of thousands of cubic metres of radioactive waste in limestone caverns beside Lake Huron, beneath the Bruce Nuclear Site. Ontario Power Generation is the proponent of the burial scheme.
Last week, a panel appointed by the federal Minister of the Environment and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission in 2012 provided the Minister with its final report on the review of Ontario Power Generation’s proposed Deep Geologic Repository for Low and Intermediate Level Radioactive Wastes. The Joint Review Panel (JRP) recommended that the federal minister approve the proposed repository, despite the expert evidence they heard throughout the public hearings about numerous technical uncertainties, and an incomplete plan. The proposal faces large and growing public opposition.
“They got it wrong – plain and simple” commented Eugene Bourgeois, closest neighbour to the Bruce Nuclear site.
“There are layers on layers of dishonesty at play here. This federal panel has now teamed up with the nuclear industry to rush ahead with unproven technologies to bury wastes OPG claims are being safely managed where they are, and to continue to ignore some of the most vulnerable and most hazardous wastes, like AECL’s shut-down reactor at Douglas Point.”
Ontario Power Generation’s proposal was to bury 200,000 cubic metres of low and intermediate level radioactive wastes produced during reactor operations deep underground in a series of underground caverns carved out of limestone. Weeks before the federal hearing began in September 2013, OPG publicly acknowledged its intention to double that amount by adding decommissioning wastes - including radioactive reactor components and contaminated building materials and rubble – through a license amendment after approval based on the initial proposal has been issued.
- 30 -
|
For comment contact:
Eugene Bourgeois tel. (519) 368-5354 Brennain Lloyd tel. (705) 497 0373, cell (705) 493 9650 Kevin Kamps tel. (240) 462-3216 |
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