Kincardine councillor upset with OPG at loss of DGR at Bruce site
Kincardine councillor Laura Haight is disappointed at the loss of Ontario Power Generation (OPG)'s proposed Deep Geologic Repository (DGR) for low- and intermediate-level nuclear waste at the Bruce Nuclear site in the Municipality of Kincardine.
Haight was addressing OPG representatives, in committee-of-the-whole Monday night (March 2).
Lise Morton (left), vice-president of nuclear waste management; and Fred Kuntz, senior manager, corporate relations and projects for Bruce County, were at the council meeting to bring an update on what has been happening at OPG.
During that presentation, Morton stated that OPG respects the decision by the Saugeen Ojibway Nation (SON) which voted against the DGR, Jan. 31. Now, the company has to move forward and develop alternate solutions for permanent disposal of the low- and intermediate-level nuclear waste.
She said this will be done with stakeholder engagement, including indigenous groups and municipalities. “A priority will be continuing our efforts in waste minimization.”
Mayor Anne Eadie said the DGR hosting agreement has now ended and council will have to consider its role as it continues to host the low- and intermediate-level waste at the Bruce site. “We will be discussing this at our March 16 meeting.”
Haight said there has to be a federal policy regarding indigenous groups.
“The Municipality of Kincardine finds itself in a weird situation,” she said. “All these years, we were never told that this DGR project would be subject to a populous vote by SON. While I respect their decision, this project was going to be based on science and worldwide best practices.
“We've been out there for the past 20 years telling people this is the best solution – putting the waste underground where it's safer, rather than leaving it in interim storage. Now, what do we tell them? Oh, don't worry, it's still safe?”
She said that Morton mentioned additional buildings at the Western Waste Management Facility, also located at the Bruce Nuclear site.
“How much of the waste from Bruce Power's Major Component Replacement (MCR) project was going into the DGR?” asked Haight. "What are you doing about that? Are you making the waste facility three times as big – 10 times as big?
“I'm really so disappointed at how this turned out at the end.
“We need a federal policy. We can't expect OPG or Bruce Power or the Municipality of Kincardine to negotiate with indigenous groups over treaty rights. That's the federal government's job. We needed a national nuclear policy 10 years ago.
“I'm really upset about this. We have to get this fixed, and we have to start with the federal government.
“We're still the host community. We still have the waste here. We should get more money."
Eadie said she was also disappointed that the DGR project was turned down after all these years.
“The low- and intermediate-level waste is already at the Bruce site,” she said. “The DGR was the best long-term solution. The Municipality of Kincardine and its residents, and the surrounding communities all supported it as well.”
Deputy mayor Marie Wilson asked how this affects the DGR hosting agreement. She also asked that since this low- and intermediate-level waste has been stored at the Bruce site for decades, what differentiates from interim and permanent storage?
Regarding the DGR hosting agreement, Morton said a letter was sent to the municipality, dated Feb. 20, stating that OPG is terminating the agreement, effective March 30, 2020. At that point, all money held in trust (50-per-cent payments, beginning in 2018) will be returned to OPG. Once the agreement is terminated, the payments will cease.
OPG will be making its final payment to the municipality for 2020 once necessary steps to close the project are taken, states the letter. This payment will be made via direct deposit to the municipality by April 30, 2020.
As for when waste is in interim versus permanent storage, Morton said the main difference is that when the waste is in long-term storage, it is never moved again, and its radioactivity is continuously monitored over the next decades and centuries.
She noted that the current interim storage has a defined life; after 50-100 years, new storage will have to be built to replace it.
Councillor Bill Stewart pointed out the financial impact on the Municipality of Kincardine which was receiving a host-community payment of $400,000 per year. Plus, the payment-in-lieu of taxes at the Bruce site (owned by OPG), has decreased by $100,000 this year.
“So, in 2021, we're already going to take a hit of half-a-million bucks,” he said.
As the presentation came to a close, Kuntz said OPG appreciates the municipality's stalwart support of the DGR project over the past 15 years.
Written ByLiz Dadson is the founder and editor of the Kincardine Record and has been in the news business since 1986.
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