Transcript for December 3, 2012 Public Hearing for Darlington
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Canadian Nuclear Commission canadienne de Safety Commission sûreté nucléaire Public hearing Audience publique December 3rd, 2012 Le 3 décembre 2012 Hope Fellowship Church Église Hope Fellowship 1685 Bloor Street 1685, rue Bloor Courtice, Ontario Courtice (Ontario) Commission Members present Commissaires présents Dr. Michael Binder M. Michael Binder Dr. Moyra McDill Mme Moyra McDill Mr. Dan Tolgyesi M. Dan Tolgyesi Ms. Rumina Velshi Mme Rumina Velshi Dr. Ronald Barriault M. Ronald Barriault Mr. André Harvey M. André Harvey Secretary: Secrétaire: Mr. Marc Leblanc M. Marc Leblanc Senior General Counsel : Avocat général principal: Mr. Jacques Lavoie M. Jacques Lavoie (ii) TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE Opening remarks 1 12-H16.A 6 Adoption of Agenda Ontario Power Generation Inc.: 9 - Environmental Assessment of OPG’s proposed Refurbishment and Continued Operation of the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station (DNGS); - Application by OPG to renew the Darlington Waste Management Facility licence; and, - Application by OPG to renew the Nuclear Power Reactor Operating Licence for the DNGS until December 31, 2014 12-H13.1 / 12-H14.1 / 12-H15.1 / 12-H13.1A 10 Oral presentation by Ontario Power Generation Inc. 12-H13 / 12-H13.A / 12-H14 / 12-H15 / 12-H15.A 37 Oral presentation by CNSC staff 12-H13.2 96 Oral presentation by the Sierra Club Canada and The Sierra Club Canada Ontario Chapter 12-H13.3 154 Oral presentation by Tim Seitz 12-H13.190 172 Oral presentation by Williams treaties First Nations (iii) TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE 12-H13.30 / 12-H13.30A 190 Oral presentation by the Municipality of Clarington 12-H13.67 217 Oral presentation by Lake Ontario Waterkeeper 12-H13.4 263 Oral presentation by the Canadian Environmental Law Association 12-H13.5 296 Oral presentation by the Canadian Association of Nuclear Host Communities 12-H13.6 / 12-H13.6A 303 Oral presentation by Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment 12-H13.200 / 12-H13.200A 335 Oral presentation by Durham Nuclear Awareness 12-H13.24 / 12-H13.24A 358 Oral presentation by the Municipality of Kincardine 12-H13.20 371 Oral presentation by Darlene Buckingham 12-H13.7 / 12-H13.7A 388 Oral presentation by Laura Moynihan 1 Courtice, Ontario --- Upon commencing at 9:05 a.m. Opening Remarks MR. LEBLANC: Good morning ladies and gentlemen. Bonjour à tous. Welcome to the public hearing of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. My name is Marc Leblanc. Je suis le secrétaire la commission et j’aimerais aborder certains aspects touchant le déroulement des audiences. The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission is about to start a public hearing on the Darlington Nuclear site regarding the environmental assessment of OPG’s proposed refurbishment and continued operation of the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station. The application by OPG to renew the Darlington Waste Management Facility licence and the application by OPG to renew the nuclear power reactor operating licence for the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station until December 31st, 2014. During today’s business we have simultaneous translation in English and French. Des appareils de traduction sont disponibles à la réception. La version française est au 2 poste 2, and the English version is on channel 1. Please keep the pace of your speech relatively slow so that the translators have a chance to keep up. L'audience est enregistrée et transcrite textuellement. Les transcriptions se font dans l'une ou l'autre des langues officielles. I’d also like you to know that this hearing is being video webcast live and that the hearing is also archived on our website for a three-month period after the closure of the hearing. The transcripts will be available on the website of the Commission in about 10 to 14 days. To make the transcripts as meaningful as possible, we would ask everyone to identify themselves before speaking. As a courtesy to others in the room, please silence your cell phones and other electronic devices. M. Binder, président et premier dirigeant de la CCSN, présidera l'audience publique d'aujourd'hui. Mister President. THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you, Marc, and good morning to everybody. And first of all, let me share with you on behalf of the Commission how delighted we are here to be today in your community. It’s a great pleasure for us first to get out of Ottawa, trust me on that one, and to be in a community and allow for the community members 3 to participate in this hearing. I’d also like to thank the people of the Hope Fellowship Church for helping us set-up in this facility, so thank you for that. My name is Michael Binder. I’m the President of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. And welcome to all of you who are joining us through the webcast and some will be joining us through teleconference. So let me start by introducing Members of the Commission. On my right are Dr. Moyra McDill and Monsieur Dan Tolgyesi. On my left are Ms. Rumina Velshi, Dr. Ronald Barriault and Monsieur André Harvey. We heard from Marc Leblanc, the Secretary of the Commission, and we have Jacques Lavoie, Senior General Counsel of the Commission with us here today. Before we start, I’d like to make some few remarks. We are in Clarington, Courtice the next four days to consider the written submissions and oral presentations for a large number of citizens and organizations who wish to express their opinion on the three matters that are our focus -- that are the focus of the hearing this week. I’d like to clarify a few things before we getting this hearing underway. First of all, I wish to 4 emphasize that the Commission is a quasi-judicial administrative tribunal and that consequently, it is independent; any political, government or private-sector influence. In fact, each Commission Member is independent of one another and also independent of the CNSC staff. Interventions for this hearing include recommendations to the Commission. CNSC staff also make recommendations to the Commission and it is the Commission Members who will render a decision based on all the evidence presented in the context of the hearing process. The Commission Members are appointed by the gouvernor-in-council on the basis of their achievement in their respective fields of endeavour as well as their excellent reputation among their peers. The mandate is simple; ensure that the use of nuclear is done in a manner that protects the environment as well as the health, safety and security of the workers and the public. Several intervenors have raised important questions on the future of nuclear energy in the Province of Ontario. Many are making -- many are asking why more consideration is not given to wind and solar and other renewable energy sources instead of nuclear energy. I trust that you will understand that the Commission, as an administrative tribunal, does not have 5 the statutory authority and will not consider questions that are of a political nature and that it is the Ontario Provincial Government that must address these fundamental energy policy questions. I would also like to emphasize that the CNSC has no economic mandate and will not base its decision on the economic impact of the facility. I will repeat it. It is the health, safety and security of the public and the protection of the environment that guides our decision. Finally, as I stated earlier, the Commission is an administrative tribunal. It is willing to conduct its hearing in the affected community and to provide the forum where members of the public can express their views on the matter at hand. As the Commission is a tribunal and wishes to hear the more than 90 oral presentations and ask questions of these -- on these, we ask that everyone respect the decorum and assists with the orderly conduct of these proceedings. Thank you for your attention. So with this information, I would like now to call for the adoption of the agenda of the Commission Members as outlined in Commission Member Document 12- H16.A. Do I have concurrence? For the record, the agenda is adopted. 6 Marc? 12-H16.A Adoption of Agenda MR. LEBLANC: Thank you. So a notice of public hearing was published on September 4th, 2012 to announce the public hearing on OPG’s Darlington Nuclear site. A revised notice was published on October 25th to announce the new dates of hearing in light of the large number of submissions received from the public. The submissions filed by OPG and the recommendations filed by CNSC staff were made available on September 14th. The public was invited to participate either by oral presentation or written submissions. October 15 was the revised deadline set for filing by intervenors. The Commission received 212 requests for intervention, including 90 oral presentations and 478 similar email submissions from a later campaign. CNSC staff filed two supplementary documents on November 15; these documents were sent to all intervenors. November 26 was the deadline for filing of supplementary information and we know that supplementary 7 submissions and presentations had been filed by CNSC staff, OPG, and several intervenors. Participant funding was available to intervenors to prepare for and participate in the hearing. The Commission received six requests for funding. The Funding Review Committee, which is independent of the Commission, reviewed the applications. Funding was provided to the six applicants as per a decision issued on May 17, 2012 by that independent Committee. Further to a request that was received on November 30th pursuant to Section 20 of the CNSC Rules and Procedures, there was a request that Member Rumina Velshi recuse herself.