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HomeMy WebLinkAboutADM-08-02 , REPORT 112 ~ REPORT ADMINISTRATION Meeting: COUNCIL Date: October 28, 2002 Report #: ADM 08-02 File#: By-law #: Subject: Participation at the Fusion Energy Conference Lyon, France RECOMMENDATIONS: It is respectfully recommended to Council the following: 1. THAT Report ADM 08-02 be received for information. uv~~ ~ Submitted by: Franklin Wu Chief Administrative Officer CORPORATION OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF CLARINGTON 40 TEMPERANCE STREET, BOWMANVILLE, ONTARIO L 1C 3A6 T 905-623-3379 F 905-623-5717 '~ . . REPORT NO.: ADM 08-02 PAGE 2 REPORT The 19th Fusion Energy Conference was held in Lyon, France from October 13th to 19th inclusive. This year's conference was attended by scientists and government officials from over 40 countries. The significance of this year's conference was the inclusion of the ITER project on their conference agenda which features presentations by the four (4) proposed host communities as well as display booths manned by representatives from the respective countries. As a strong supporter of the ITER project, ITER Canada felt that it was only appropriate to have community and government support present at the conference. Subsequently, Council authorized Mayor John Mutton and the Chief Administrative Officer to assist ITER Canada and took the trip to Lyon, France. It should be noted that Councillor MacArthur also attended the Conference on his own as an observer and his assistance at the conference to promote Clarington was very much appreciated. The Clarington delegates were involved in the following activities abroad. 1. Meeting with the Scientists This involved one on one dialogue with those scientists who visited the ITER Canada booth, as well as any other opportunity and occasion we found to explain and promote the Clarington site. Throughout the conference and judging from the comments from the scientists, all of us concluded that Clarington is their preferred choice. The positive comment was particularly evident from the U.S. scientists. Despite all the positive feedbacks, a few scientists did express concerns about the lack of financial commitment from our Federal government. 2. Meeting with the Minister of Research & New Technology from the French Government The Minister made a scheduled stop at the Canada ITER booth where Mayor Mutton and Dr. Murray Stewart had the opportunity to dialogue with the Minister to explain the attributes of the Clarington site. REPORT NO.: ADM OS..()2 PAGE 3 3. Presentations This was the main feature of the fusion conference where representatives from all four proposed ITER sites, ie. Clarington in Canada, Cadarache in France, Vandellos in Spain and Rokkasho in Japan were given the opportunities to present their respective sites to the scientists. The session was very well attended by over 400 delegates who sat through all the presentations lasting over two (2) hours. The session commenced with an introduction by Dr. Velikhov, and followed by presentations from Dr. Kishinoto advising the delegates of the progress in negotiations for the joint implementation of ITER. Dr. Murray Stewart then provided a brief overview of the workplan, milestones and the transitional arrangements among the ITER participants. An overview of the four (4) ITER proposed sites was given by Dr. Belyokov who advised that the site assessment of both the Clarington and the Rokkasho sites were completed this past September and October, and the assessments of the Cadarache and Vandellos sites are scheduled for December. They anticipate a decision on the site selection soemtime in Mayor June, 2003. Clarington's presentation was given by Mayor John Mutton. The presentation covered all the key elements including both technical and socio-economic attributes that make Clarington an ideal site for ITER. This was followed by a short video which further enhanced all the good reasons to locate ITER in Clarington. The presentation was very well received, judging by the applause we received compared to the presentations from the representations of the other three (3) sites. If one were to assess the content and quality of all four (4) presentations, it leaves no doubt that the Clarington site is far superior to the other sites in many respects. More importantly, the Canada proposal appears to be ahead of the other three (3) proposals in terms of readiness to take on this major international joint venture. Suffice it to say, the comments we received from the delegates after the presentation were all positive and encouraging. - . - , REPORT NO.: ADM 08-02 PAGE 4 4. Visiting Vandellos Site in Spain To help us to understand what Clarington is up against vis-a-vis our competitor, the Clarington delegation and ITER representatives the Durham delegation took a long auto joumey to the proposed Spanish ITER site in Vandellos, a community about 130 km west of Barcelona. We were greeted by the Mayor and other government representatives and we spent a good part of the afternoon touring its decommissioned nuclear power plant, where we were shown how the plant was being demolished, taking into account of the containment of radioactivity materials. This experience is invaluable as some day in the future, we will have to deal with decommissioning of our own nuclear plant. We were also taken to a high point to view their ITER proposed site which sits between their decommissioned nuclear power plant and a major highway similar to our Highway 401. In more ways than one, the Vandellos site is very similar to the Clarington site in terms of its locale and its geographical setting relative to proximity to major urban centre, adjacent to a large body of water, nuclear power plan, and to major transportation corridors. Our trip to Vandellos also included a tour of the community of Vandellos and the surrounding areas. We were also given a tour of their municipal building, and took the opportunity to share several local govemment issues common to us. Of particular interest is our similar set up in our involvement in our respective Nuclear Host Community Association. Our trip to Vandellos was both educational and informative. Despite the fact that Vandellos and Clarington are both competitors in the ITER bid. the hospitality extended by Mayor Barcello was warm and sincere. . Independent Report on Clarington participation at the fusion energy conference, Lyon Oct 2002. The trip was a very worthwhile exercise and contributed greatly to our ITER bid for all the reasons given on the official report. The report was in some ways understated in that the mayor's presentation was exceptionally well done and enthusiastically received. In working the display after the presentation the visitors to whom I spoke all were convinced that Clarington was their choice. One thing our presentation was lacking however was partiCipation of federal or provincial officials, which would have indicated some support from those levels of government. The French government was certainly there with an appearance by the Minister of Energy and her entourage of 20 well dressed bureaucrats telling the delegates of her government's commitment to France's bid. Her ministry by the way sponsored a symphony concert and reception for the delegates on the Wednesday evening. Our booth on the floor of the conference was well put together and attractive however I feel it concentrated too much on the technical aspects ofthe tokamak and not enough on the socio-economic and geographic features. The assembled scientists already knew the physics of the fusion process and didn't need that explained to them but they did want to know about: geography, climate, housing prices, educational opportunities, recreational facilities, health care, religious and ethnic communities and so on. I would recommend that for the next presentation of this nature information on all the above complete with good maps be a more prominent part of the display. Such information could be put on a CD to give to the participants as well. If anything can be done to encourage the senior levels of government to take a stronger interest in the project it should be done. After a lengthy discussion with Alex Shepherd I would recommend to the ITER people that they set up meetings with him to devise a strategy for increasing the federal involvement. The main problem seems to be lack of or missed communication. Don MacArthur