MANITOUWADGE PASSES RESOLUTION TO CONTINUE TO “Learn More”
MANITOUWADGE, ON – At their regular meeting of March 27th, 2013 Manitouwadge Town Council unanimously passed a motion to continue to learn more about the Nuclear Waste Management Organization’s site selection process for a deep geological repository for long-term management of used nuclear fuel.
The general public had the opportunity to attend Open Houses held by the NWMO at the Rec Centre auditorium March 5th and 6th at which a team of NWMO representatives, including scientists and public relations and communications personel, were on hand to answer questions and walk people through the Open House. In addition to members of the public, among the groups who attended the Open Houses were the Manitouwadge Outdoor Enthusiasts, emergency services/first responders personel, and Town Council. (CLICK HERE for full article, including Open House interviews/video). OntarioNewsNorth.com Editor Karina Hunter spoke with many of those who attended the Open House as they exited and all seemed to agree that Learning More would definately be their recommendation to Council.
Manitouwadge is the last of 6 communities in the region, still involved in the Site Selection Process, to pass a resolution to continue to Step 3 and keep learning more; the community joins Wawa, White River, Hornepayne, Schreiber, and Nipigon in Step 3. It is important to understand this is an “Adaptive phased management plan” with an emphasis on adaptive – communities decide which resources they will take advantage of to continue learning more and still have the option of removing themselves from the process should they come to realize at any point that this is not a project which would fit their town.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
In Step 2, the NWMO had commissioned Geofirma, a third party firm, to conduct initial screenings based on the review of readily-available information and the application of the five initial screening criteria, the report outlining no obvious conditions that would exclude Manitouwadge from further consideration in the NWMO site selection process was shared with Council at their regular meeting January 9th, 2013 (CLICK HERE for full article, including full video of the meeting). The resolution to continue to Step 3 o the NWMO’s Site Selection process means while the community continues to explore its potential interest in the project as the area is the subject of progressively more detailed assessments against both technical and social factors to confirm the suitability of the community. There will be ongoing engagement of the community, surrounding communities and others who may be affected. By the end of this process, the whole community would need to clearly demonstrate that it is willing to host the repository in order for the project to proceed.
It is important that any community which decides to host this project base its decisions on an understanding of the best scientific and social research available and its own aspirations. A community should not have to discontinue learning more due to financial strain or costs involved in learning more therefore, there are funds available to support a community’s interest in continueing to explore its potential interest.
Assistance from the NWMO available to communities in Step 3 are (please visit www.nwmo.ca for full details):
- Funding to community for administrative expenses associated with coordinating community activities to Learn More.This may include costs associated with a community working group, advertising (e.g. events and newsletters), and professional fees or part-time staff resource support. This may include funding to community to cover expenses of municipal staff associated with communications among staff and Council, payroll, accounts payable, tracking receipts, phone, fax, email, etc. related to the NWMO process and travel expenses for meetings with surrounding communities or region. An accounting must be kept of activities and money spent suitable for third-party audit. Up to $75,000 of funding will be provided over a 12-month period.
- Funding to community to develop and/or augment an existing long-term vision for community sustainability, integrated community sustainability plan and/or strategic plan in order to support their further consideration of the project.The community – as represented by accountable authorities – may request and receive resources to develop and/or augment an existing long-term vision for community sustainability, integrated community sustainability plan and/or strategic plan up to $40,000.
- Funding to community for third-party review, hiring a consultant, studies and provision of expert advice to the community is available. Proposals for independent expert advice of up to $40,000 will be considered.
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