CNSC hears from numerous interveners at relicensing hearings in Kincardine

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) spent three-and-a-half days at the Davidson Centre in Kincardine last week, hearing almost 60 oral submissions regarding Bruce Power's five-year licence renewal application to operate the Bruce A and B generating stations at the Bruce Nuclear site in the Municipality of Kincardine.

Some interveners were in favour, while others were against the application. Each oral presentation was allowed 10 minutes, followed by questions from the CNSC.

Tuesday morning, Kincardine mayor Anne Eadie began the presentations, speaking in favour of the application.

She said Kincardine is a municipality of 12,500 people located on the shores of Lake Huron in Bruce County and is the host municipality of the Bruce Power site. An estimated 35-40 per cent of Bruce Power's 4,200 employees live in Kincardine.

"Bruce Power is the largest employer in the region," she said. "Since 2001, Bruce Power has been a source of jobs, tax revenue and economic growth for our community. The Bruce site has a tremendous economic reach while growing the skills and knowledge of a generation of workers. Bruce Power is not just a large economic driver in the region but is a good neighbour, committed to safety and open communications with the municipality."

A survey, conducted in late 2014 by Ipsos Reid, indicates that the vast overwhelming majority of residents in Bruce, Grey and Huron counties have positive impressions of Bruce Power, said Eadie.

"Bruce Power has a strong history of assisting and championing needs and causes close to home. Since 2011, the company has donated about $5-million to support programs that focus on health and wellness; community; youth development; Aboriginal programs; military, veterans and first responders; and events.
"Funding has also been made available to support the expansion of emergency services at the Kincardine hospital through a $1-million contribution provided in 2013."

Eadie said Bruce Power reports regularly to the municipality on its safety performance. "Bruce Power has one of the strongest industrial safety records in Canada's electricity sector and it's important to our community that our largest employer shares this dedication to safety."

The company aims to protect resources, conserve energy, reduce water consumption and reuse and recycle, said Eadie. Plus, the municipality and Bruce Power are actively engaged in emergency preparedness.

"The site has a fully-equipped fire department, an ambulance and an emergency response organization which offer around-the-clock response that, at times, is called upon to provide aid to the surrounding municipalities."

Kincardine and Saugeen Shores are also working in partnership with Bruce Power to support physician recruitment which is crucial to the rural area, Eadie said.

When asked about the need for a full-time physician recruiter, Eadie said the work is extensive. "It's a long process and often the recruiter must travel to medical conferences to seek new physician recruits. We have some doctors nearing retirement and right now, we have 100 orphan patients. At one time, we had thousands of orphan patients. We appreciate the collaborative efforts in the area of physician recruitment."

BRUCE CHAPTER OF NAYGN

The Bruce Chapter of the North American Young Generation in Nuclear (NAYGN) also spoke in favour of the application.

Orie Good and Andrew Lee said their organization recognizes the importance of the career-oriented, highly-skilled job opportunities that Bruce Power provides to developing professionals early in their careers.

"Through relicensing Bruce Power as a nuclear operator, young professionals will continue to have fair and competitive job opportunities commensurate with the dedication in obtaining highly-trained skills and education," they state. "A licence renewal means that NAYGN will continue to have the opportunity to work with these individuals in developing their careers and social conscience. Furthermore, our communities will continue to flourish with motivated young people becoming responsible, social members."

HURON-KINLOSS TOWNSHIP

Huron-Kinloss mayor Mitch Twolan spoke in favour of the application, noting that Bruce Power has consistently proven it can readily create large amounts of safe and reliable electricity with no adverse effects to residents of Huron-Kinloss or Bruce County.

"Bruce Power is an important part of our community, providing thousands of high-paying, secure jobs for residents which results in strong business sectors and healthy, well-educated residents. The continued long-term growth of Bruce Power contributes vastly to our municipal and county-wide development and initiatives.
"The company also gives generously to community events, organizations and groups that are the lifeblood of our towns and villages. Without these donations - about $1.3-million annually - many non-profit community groups would cease to exist, leaving large gaps in services in our communities."

KINETIC KNIGHTS ROBOTICS TEAM 781

The Kinetic Knights Robotics Team 781 of Kincardine spoke in favour of the application, stating that Bruce Power's support of the team allows for all students to participate despite their economic status.

"As a result of the annual donations made by Bruce Power to Team 781, we have been able to involve hundreds of students over the past 13 years in this amazing experience," states the team. "Not only does Bruce Power provide monetary support, many of the team's mentors are either employees or retirees of Bruce Power. Through their involvement, the students learn to apply concepts they learn in the classroom to real-life problems.
"In designing and building a robot to compete every year, while maintaining the logistics that support the endeavour, students engage in problem-solving and decision-making. The impact of their decisions can be witnessed in the product that is produced and its performance by the end of the season.

"With a successful application by Bruce Power for licence renewal, Team 781 will be able to support the community and the students within it for years to come."

SAUGEEN SHORES

Saugeen Shores mayor Mike Smith brought support from his town for the application. The town is the most populous and fastest-growing municipality in Bruce County, situated on the lakeshore immediately north of the Bruce Nuclear site. It is home to a substantial number of Bruce Power staff.

"Bruce Power has consistently demonstrated itself to be a good corporate citizen, a model employer for a substantial number of residents of our community, and a leader in safe operation of the world's largest nuclear facility," said Smith. "Ontario's Long-Term Energy Plan contemplates sustained operation of all eight existing units, thereby providing a substantial component of the province's base energy needs. Council of the Town of Saugeen Shores fully supports the operating licence renewal application submitted by Bruce Power for both Bruce A and B."



Duncan Hawthorne, president and chief executive officer of Bruce Power, comments on the relicensing hearings, Monday morning (April 13), at the opening of the new fire training facility at the Bruce Nuclear site

CNSC STAFF REPORT

In its report, CNSC staff recommended renewal of the licence, authorizing Bruce Power to continue to operate Bruce A and B until May 31, 2020; and to renew the current Bruce A and B licences as a single licence.

Staff has concluded that Bruce Power is qualified to carry on the activities authorized by the licence, and in carrying out the licensed activities, Bruce Power has made, and will continue to make, adequate provision for the protection of the environment, the health and safety of persons, and the maintenance of national security and measures required to implement international obligations to which Canada has agreed.

JUTTA SPLETTSTOESSER

Among those who spoke against the application were Jutta Splettstoesser of Kincardine. Her focus was on the lack of public emergency preparedness with respect to the nuclear site.

In her extensive research, she found gaps, non-compliance and inconsistency in parts of Bruce Power's nuclear emergency response plan, particularly related to the Kincardine hospital, and the distribution of potassium iodide pills to residents around the site.

"People are not un-ready because they don't want to be or don't care," she said. "People are, in general, un-ready because they have not received the information necessary to become ready and/or have not appreciated its import. Also, to some degree, many have not prioritized getting ready because they are not concerned about a nuclear accident. This speaks to constant reassurance from the industry that the plants are safe.
"People need to be ready for a possible accident. The necessity for a much better outreach by Bruce Power, Kincardine, Saugeen Shores, Bruce County, the province and CNSC, is obvious."

REV. RUTH MacLEAN

Also speaking against the application, was Rev. Ruth MacLean, a resident of Kincardine and a generational cottage owner south of Kincardine.

"As citizens, we question the financial black-hole which nuclear power plants have become," she said. "We are still paying off the debt retirement charge from the Bruce plant. Spending $60-billion or more on refurbishment cannot be justified when this money could create a safe future with renewable technologies. Refurbishment of six reactors means more highly-radioactive tubing and core reactor parts possibly buried in a DGR (Deep Geologic Repository) beside Lake Huron - which OPG (Ontario Power Generation) admits could, in time, leak into the water."

She said there has been no analysis of a large-scale accident with eight reactors on site. "Your current risk assessment considers only one reactor. The impact on the whole Bruce Power site - eight reactors, stored nuclear waste and a possible DGR - must be considered."

CANADIAN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW ASSOCIATION

The Canadian Environmental Law Association spoke against the application, offering a lengthy list of recommendations for Bruce Power and the neighbouring municipalities, the CNSC and others, regarding emergency management plans, evacuation plans, potassium iodide pill distribution, and expanding the primary zone to 30 kilometres from 10 kiometres, and the secondary zone to 100 kilometres from 50 kilometres.

The association also recommends that the proposal to operate Bruce Power units beyond the originally-designed lifespan of 210,000 Effective Full Power Hours of pressure tubes, be denied. In fact, the association requests that the CNSC order Bruce Power to prepare an application for the orderly closure and decommissioning of its aging reactors.

The CNSC now has the responsibility of rendering a decision on the renewal application. Bruce Power's operating licences for these reactors are set to expire May 31, 2015,



The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) was in Kincardine last week for the Bruce Power relicensing hearings; from left, are J. Moyra McDill, Dan D. Tolgyos, CNSC staff, secretary Marc A. Leblanc, president Michael Binder, Alexander (Sandy) J.B. McEwan, Rumina Valshl, and Ronald J. Barriault