Nuclear Update – White River Team in Toronto and Manitouwadge Commits to Learning More

Written by admin on 07 March 2012

Pickering dry-storage facility which was visited by White River Economic Development team today. Photo NWMO

TORONTO, ON – A team from White River consisting of Councillor Kevin Morgan and his wife, Economic Development Board member Jeanne Morgan , township Clerk Marilyn Parent-Lethbridge, and Tom & Shirley Bagdon also members of the Economic Development Board have travelled to Southern Ontario for a tour, hosted by the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) which began today.

The fast-paced two-day tour began this morning, Day 1, with a visit to the NWMO’ office in Toronto where the White River delegation will learn more about the NWMO recommendation of Adaptive Phased Management which the Government of Canada chose for the long-term care of used nuclear fuel , how this approach will be implemented, how the NWMO site selection process unfolds, what their community can expect in the learning process and much more while having the opportunity to ask any questions they have. They continued to Pickering for a tour of the nuclear plant and used nuclear fuel dry-storage facilities. At the Pickering Power Generation Station they also met with a variety of staff including a representative of Ontario Power Generation (OPG) as well as Safety and security reps for the plant. Finally tomorrow, Day 2 will see the White River team flown to Ottawa where they will hear presentations at the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) offices from representatives with the CNSC’s Aboriginal Relations, Public Safety, and Transportation among others. They will also learn how the CNSC is working through international collaboration with countries where the process of creating deep geological repositories is more advanced, and how Canada’s site selection process and eventual Deep Geological Repoitory and National Centre of Expertise will fit international standards.

There are a growing number of Northern Ontario Communities currently involved in learning more about site selection and what it would mean to potentially host both a Deep Geological Repository to safely and securely contain and isolate Canada’s used nuclear fuel and, as mentioned, a centre of expertise for technical, environmental and community studies which is hoped will become a hub for national and international scientific collaboration, potentially generating hundreds of jobs in the community and it is predicted, thousands of jobs in the host region and these employments, for many decades. It seems that the number of interested communities may be growing exponentially as neighbours of interested communities consider the potential for their town to reap the economic benefits of becoming the host site.

The most recent community to declare an interest in learning more is the Township of Manitouwadge and, EDO Anthony Friedrich who presented the idea to council after meeting with NWMO representatives admitted the interest of neighbouring communities played a large part in his decision to recommend the community learn more about potentially becoming a host site “We need to learn more about what it all means and what is involved as responsible neighbours to communities like Schreiber, Hornepayne and Wawa who are already involved with the NWMO’s site selection process so why not also learn about how our community could potentially benefit if we were the site host rather than the site host’s neighbour”. Public opinion is still being weighed as Manitouwadge residents consider council’s February 22nd decision to be involved in learning more. ‘There is much that needs to happen, before we hold public meetings or set up a Kiosk” said NWMO Director of Communications Jamie Robinson explaining that “At the request of the community, the NWMO will evaluate the potential suitability of the community against a list of initial screening criteria”. Part of the initial screening criteria involves technical suitability through which it was found for example that the Township of Red Rock was unlikely to be a suitable candidate for continuing in the NWMO site selection process and so was not eligible to proceed. Autumn leaves could be dropping before Manitouwadge residents begin to be offered formal information through public sessions, kiosks or Township representatives travelling to Toronto and Ottawa for a tour like that which White River reps are on now.

No doubt there will be much debate and learning necessary before any community is chosen whether it is likely the host will be in Northern Ontario, or even in Ontario at all as there are Northern Saskatchewan communities which have expressed interest in learning more as well, remains to be seen. However, some things are more certain:

potential economic effects will be significant: the federally mandated national infrastructure project (at host site) will involve an investment of $16-24 billion, possibly hundreds of local jobs and potentially thousands of regional jobs
potential environmental concerns and questions cannot be ignored: the NWMO is seeking a willing host site, this is why they have not sought out communities but instead have allowed those interested to come forward and request involvement in learning more.
potential for new communities to come forward is nearing it’s end: it is estimated by the NWMO that in the next 6 months the opportunity for communities to be involved in learning more about site selection and potentially becoming the host community will be declared over at which time there will be approximately 6 months remaining for a community to express an interest in learning more.