New nuclear plant hearing scheduled to start Monday in Courtice, Ontario
News release from Lake Ontario Waterkeeper March 16 2011
The first new nuclear power plant to be built in Canada in decades is slated for review beginning
next Monday.
Lake Ontario Waterkeeper, other NGOs, members of the nuclear industry, and government
departments have been preparing for the hearing for years. Waterkeeper’s research focuses on
cooling water systems and impacts on fish habitat: the kinds of impacts a nuclear power plant has
on the environment during its day-to-day operations.
With the tragic events of a nuclear meltdown still unfolding in Japan, Lake Ontario Waterkeeper
believes that the hearing should be adjourned.
“The Darlington New Nuclear Power Plant is the most important hearing that Canada has ever
initiated on nuclear power,” says Lake Ontario Waterkeeper and President, Mark Mattson. “We
don’t believe the hearing should start on March 21st. The nuclear crisis in Japan underscores the
importance of detailed planning and meticulous scrutiny. This hearing has neither.”
Ontario Power Generation’s (OPG) written proposition is so vague and so incomplete that it is
virtually impossible to predict all of the environmental impacts of the new Darlington Nuclear Power
Plant. OPG does not yet know, for example, which type of reactor or cooling water system it will
build.
Waterkeeper’s experts have identified a lengthy list of decisions, information, and data that are not
included in OPG’s plan. On the first day of the hearing, Waterkeeper will ask the review panel if the
hearing can continue without this important information. If the hearing does proceed as scheduled,
we will present our scientific analysis on Monday, March 28, 2011.
Concerns about safety and emergency preparedness will likely be foremost in many people’s
minds as the Joint Review Panel convenes Canada’s first environmental assessment hearing of a
new nuclear power plant.
The hearing is open to media and the public.
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