Region wants EA before Pickering decommissioning
Nuclear plant granted 10-year license renewal earlier this year
By Chris Jones/The Oshawa Express
A number of regional councillors are demanding an environmental assessment come before the planned decommissioning of Pickering Nuclear Plant in 2024.
Ajax Councillor Colleen Jordan and Whitby Councillor Joe Drumm brought a motion requesting the assessment be required by the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.
The pair wishes that the inspection be performed under the proposed Impact Assessment Act.
The Impact Assessment Act “provides for a process for assessing the environmental, health, social and economic effects of designated projects with a view to preventing certain adverse effects and fostering sustainability.”
Jordan and Drumm also wish to send a copy of the request to several different members local MPs and MPPs including Erin O’Toole, Colin Carrie, Jennifer French, and many others.
“It’s essential that we endorse this motion,” Jordan said to council.
However, she was met with some resistance, as Clarington Mayor Adrian Foster was quick to point out that council has no idea of what the ramifications of this request would be.
Foster said further discussion on the subject would make more sense if representatives of the OPG and the CNSC were present at council.
“We understand the need to investigate, we understand the need to have knowledge,” says Foster. “[But] we have no idea what the ramifications of this request are.”
Council has tabled the motion until 2019 when more information can be presented.
Council had recently put forth a number of resolutions aimed at the Ontario Power Generation (OPG) and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC).
Durham asked for compensation in regards to the storage of nuclear waste at Darlington and Pickering Generating Stations, until there is a time when it can be stored in a permanent nuclear waste site.
Jordan has stated that she wishes for Durham’s storage of nuclear waste to be recognized. She believes that the region should be compensated due to the fact that, even after the 30-year time shut down period for the Pickering station, high-level nuclear waste is expected to still remain in Pickering in 2060, almost 100 years since the station was commissioned.