JRP announces additional hearings on OPG DGR

The proposed location of the DUD at the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station, less than a mile from the Great Lakes shore in Kincardine, OntarioThe three member Canadian federal Joint Review Panel (JRP) overseeing Ontario Power Generation's (OPG) environmental assessment regarding its proposed DGR (Deep Geologic Repository, or, according to critics, DUD -- for Deep Underground Dump) has announced additional hearings to be held at a date still to be announced. The JRP's announcement is below.

If you haven't already, please join over 50,000 others by signing the Stop the Great Lakes Nuclear Dump petition, and widely share it with your contacts! Also, please consider urging your town, county, and state to pass resolutions opposing the DUD, as have dozens of municipalities across Michigan, Ohio, and Ontario. The Great Lakes are a planetary treasure -- 20% of the world's surface fresh water, drinking water supply for 40 million people in 8 U.S. states, 2 Canadian provinces, and a large number of Native American First Nations -- and must be protected for the future!

JRP announcement, March 26, 2014:

Interested Parties:

The Deep Geologic Repository Joint Review Panel has requested additional information from Ontario Power Generation and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. The requests are available on the Canadian Environmental Assessment Registry Internet site at http://www.ceaa-acee.gc.ca/050/documents/p17520/98790E.pdf and http://www.ceaa-acee.gc.ca/050/documents/p17520/98789E.pdf.  

Once the Panel has received adequate responses to its information requests, it plans to schedule additional hearing days. The purpose of the additional hearing days will be to provide the Panel and Interested Parties with the opportunity to address any outstanding questions in relation to the subjects addressed in information requests issued by the Panel since November, 2013. Details related to the focus, procedures, deadlines and scheduling of the additional hearing days will be provided in the near future.

Interested Parties are encouraged to check the public registry for the information requests that have been issued by the Panel to date and the responses that continue to be received.

Also, please be reminded that the Panel continues to apply criteria to all submissions that it receives to decide whether or not it will accept that submission for consideration in the review. The Panel has decided to clarify section 8.11 of the Public Hearing Procedures. At this stage of the process, the applicable criteria are:

Ø  Whether similar submissions have been made by others;

Ø  Whether the submission contains new information that is within the mandate of the Panel and not already on the record; or

Ø  Whether the submission is from a group or individual that has not previously participated in the review.

Joint Review Panel Secretariat

160 Elgin St., 22nd Floor

Ottawa ON K1A 0H3

Tel.: 1‐866‐582‐1884 or 613‐957‐0301

Email: DGR.Review@ceaa-acee.gc.ca