December 10, 2015
1358
Ontario Power Generation, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, the federally-appointed Joint Review Panel, and the Municipality of Kincardine will have to wait until the spring for a decision on whether to proceed with Ontario Power Generation (OPG)'s proposed Deep Geologic Repository (DGR) for low-level and intermediate-level waste at the Bruce Nuclear site.
Following extensive hearings over the past two years, the Joint Review Panel recommended approval of the project, and a decision was expected in early December. The federal election changed all that and now the fate of the DGR project lies in the hands of the new federal minister of the environment and climate change Catherine McKenna.
Nov. 27, McKenna announced the decision will be delayed to March 1, 2016. OPG states that it respects the minister’s need for more time to review the Joint Review Panel’s recommendation to move forward with the project.
OPG has spent 14 years studying the feasibility of a DGR at its Bruce site in the Municipality of Kincardine, and has conducted considerable public consultations. The federal Environmental Assessment DGR included more than 12,500 pages of peer-reviewed data.
The proposed DGR would safely store more than 200,000 cubic metres of low- and intermediate-level waste from 40 years of operating Ontario’s nuclear stations. Used fuel would not be stored in the DGR.
Buried 680 metres in stable rock formations that are more than 450-million years old, the proposed DGR would permanently isolate and contain the waste deep underground and protect the water and surrounding environment.
Written ByLiz Dadson is the founder and editor of the Kincardine Record and has been in the news business since 1986.
Related Stories