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HomeMy WebLinkAboutADMIN-8-88 r (14 TOWN OF NEWCASTLE REPORT File # �w- . �. Res. By-Law # MEETING: General Purpose and Administration Committee DATE: May 2 1988 REPORT #: ADMIN. 8-88 FILE #: SMECT: ONTARIO NUCLEAR SAFETY REVIEW RECOMMENDATIONS: it is respectfully recommended that the General Purpose and Administration recommend to Council the following: 1. That Administrator's report ADMIN. 8 - 88 be received; 2. That Dr. F. Kenneth Hare be invited to attend a joint meeting of the Hydro Liaison Committee and the Durham Regional Task Force dealing with the issue of emergency planning in order to present and discuss the results of the Ontario Nuclear Safety Review; 3. That a copy of report ADMIN. 8 - 88 be forwarded to Staff Sergeant Dan Matthews, Durham Regional Task Force and Mr. J. McCredie, Project Manager, Darlington Generating Station, Ontario Hydro. BACKGROUND AND COMMENT: At its meeting of November 2 1987, the General Purpose and Administration Committee considered Report PD-279-87 related to a review being undertaken by Dr. F. Kenneth Hare and commissioned by the Province of Ontario regarding the safety of the design, operating procedures and emergency measures associated with Ontario Hydro's Nuclear Generating Stations. Generally, report PD-279-87 indicated that the ADMIN. 8 — 88 Ca majority of issues being reviewed were beyond the technical expertise of Town staff. Nevertheless, the G. P. & A. Committee referred the matter to the Chief Administrative Officer in order to review the matter and report subsequently on the Ontario Nuclear Safety Review. Subsequently, some discussion took place with the representatives of the Ontario Nuclear Safety Review wherein it is staff's understanding that liaison did take place with representatives of Ontario Hydro associated with the Darlington Generating Station. It was Town staff's position that our municipality would be in a better position to respond to the findings of the review being undertaken once a draft report had been prepared. Staff has also conveyed to Dr. Hare that because our municipality is hosting the construction and soon to be operating Darlington Generating Station, the Town has various concerns related to emergency plans associated with Ontario Hydro's Candu Nuclear Generating Plants. Furthermore, it has been suggested to Dr. Hare that the issue of emergency planning should be discussed with the Regional Municipality of Durham which has appointed a committee to deal specifically with this _matter. Staff has met on several occasions with Staff Sergeant Dan Matthews of the Durham Regional Task Force regarding the Province's review who has indicated that the Task Force has not been approached to date regarding the Nuclear Safety Review. As of April 18th 1988, staff has been made aware that the report of Dr. Hare has been completed and made available to the Provincial Government (refer to Attachments #1 and #2) . In general, Dr. Hare has concluded that there is a need for considerable work regarding the implementation of emergency plans related to nuclear facilities. A copy of the report of the Ontario Nuclear Safety Review has been requested but not received to date. However, it is staff's understanding that the report is rather voluminous and technical in nature. Accordingly, it is respectfully recommended that Dr. Hare be invited to make a presentation regarding his findings to the Hydro Liaison Committee and the Durham Regional Task Force such that the review can be better appreciated and discussed in the most appropriate forum. In accordance with the Emergency Plans Act, the Region of Durham has been designated as the responsible municipal authority for nuclear plant purposes. ADMIN. 8 - 88 Since it would appear that a relatively limited amount of work has been completed regarding the implementation of an emergency plan related to the Darlington Generating Station, it would be appropriate to initiate discussions pertaining to same as soon as possible. Respectfully submitted, -- tI JL � rernce4, Kotseff, Chief Astrative Officer Pif ii,,r 1 JJu,At� NATIONAL hi ucl aror c Ianri W LINDA McOUAIG disaster. That accident killed 31 people and "But vigilance is required," the report con- The Globe and Mail spread large volumes of radioactive materials cludes. f" into the environment. In another section, the report calls for.chanp,- r.; A Chernobyl-style nuclear accident is impossi- Mr. Hare told reporters that the circum- es in the relationship between Ontario Hydro ble in Ontario,but other types of serious nuclear stances that caused Chernobyl could not happen and the Atomic Energy Control Board, the accidents could happen here, according to a at an Ontario power plant, in part because Hy- regulatory agency that sets safety conditions for , 6dvernment-commissioned study on the safety dro's CANDU reactors are of a better design the public and nuclear workers. of nuclear power plants. and in part because human error would be less Mr. Hare called for a more formal relation. likely. ship betWeen Hydro and the regulatory hotly and The study, by University of Toronto geogra- "I just cannot imagine Ontario Hydro execu- clearer documentation of all regulatory deci- pher Kenneth Hare, harshly criticizes the pro- „ , trues behaving like that, Mr. blare said, refer- Bions. vineial Government for not implementing a plan ring to what he said verged on the human fol- The report said that "the basis of decisions to deal with such an emergency. ly" involved at Chernobyl. taken by the board is not always clear. A more "It is urgently necessary that a formal nucle- Although he ruled out a Chernobyl-type acei- explicit procedure is needed for full public as ar.emergency planning branch be created with- dent, Mr. Hare said "some other types of seri- countability." in the Ministry of the Solicitor-General, and all ous accidents may occur." Serious nuclear acci- Mr. Hare called for an Increase in the the preparedness provisions of the plan be ef- dents affecting the public could occur, although regulatory body's membership, fected,"Mr.Hare wrote in his report. he said that such serious accidents were "ex- g �' to include a d "At present,"he noted,"Ontario is not ready ceedingly unlikely." environmental of experts in socio-economic and for a severe accident." The geographer also said that Hydro's nucle- envirunmental areas. Mr. Hare said that although a formal Nuclear ar-power workers do not appear to run a greater The report. said that the most serious prob- Emergency Plan was published in 1986, it has risk than the general public of dying from can- vols at Hydro power reactors u date have in- not been implemented: cer. volved pressure tubes in which fuel is located. At a news conference yesterday following the In fact, cancer mortality among the Hydro Leaks from these tubes have been detected 23 release of the report, Mr. Hare said he believe:, radiation workers is only two-thirds that of the times,and a pressure tube ruptured suddenly at the Ontario Government should implement the general public,the report said. the Pickering A reactor in August, 1983. 1986 plan immediately. However, Mr. Hare cautioned that It is too If there are major pressure-tube failures in "It is absolutely absurd that this hasn't been early to see the long-term effects of latent can- the future, "there will certainly be it threat to -n—I done,"he said, cern. the operational and maintenance crews in the n The report also calls for an overhaul of Onta- In the report, he called for more study of a reactor building, as well as a large refitting rio Hydro's operational safety system. possible increase in lymphoid leukemias in cost. And 1 am not convinced that there is no = Mr. Hare said that the organizational struc- people under 25 years of age living near nuclear danger of public exposure," the report said, 3 ture of Hydro's nuclear program appeared to be installations, Ruth Grier, environment critic for the New rn °iexcessively complex,with some ambiguities as Studies in England have suggested there may Democratic Party, said it was shocking that Z!regards responsibilities. l be such a link, Mr. Hare noted, but there have Ontario had not implemented an emergency "There is confusion in settling the status of been no comparable studies in Canada, plan in light of nuclear disasters at Three Mile temporary operating instructions at the sta- The report, called the Safety of Ontario's Island and Chernobyl. tions,"the report said. Nuclear Power Reactors,said that there was no The report noted that there were only two The one-man commission was established by evidence that the normal operation of Hydra's professional staff involved in emergency plan- the Liberal Government in December, 1986, fol- reactors has caused, or will cause, harmful ef- ning in Ontario. "A sense of urgency is lacking," ]owing the Soviet Union's Chernobyl nuclear fects to either the workforce or the public. it said. .1 r �r r-i T ATTACHMENT -#2 Plan 1'U1 ear mishaps needed, 0 -tario warneds By Kathleen Kenna Toronto Star Ontario Hydro has one of the tion that this is not going to happen A Chernobyl-type reactor disas- best nuclear safety records in the here and I don't agree," he told re- ter won't happen here, but a seri- world,because of the"superb tech- porters after releasing a six- ous accident is possible — and nology" a its CANDU-reactors. volume report. "It's urgent that we're not prepared for it, warns However, it risks reactor damage the government put a plan into ef- and unsafe conditions for workers, feet tomorrow." the provinces nuclear safety re- problem or because of a ma with Although a Chernobyl is unlikely, - view commissioner. bJ P g Y Y, Although Ontario relies more on Pressure tubes that contain urani- a "severe"accident is still possible, nuclear power than almost any um fuel,Hare said. through -sabotage, terrorism, other place in the world, nothing Failure of these radioactive equipment failure or human error, has been done to set up an emer- tubes,part of a reactor's high-pres- Hare warned. gen(-.-y plan and there are only two sure heat transport system,has led An April, 1986, explosion and civil servants working on one,says to a $500 million retubing at fire at a Soviet reactor at Cher- Dr.Kenneth Hare. Hydro's troubled Pickering power nobyl, Ukraine, killed 31 and The author of the Ontario Nu- plant. released a giant cloud of radiation. clear Safety Review said_yesterday Hare, appointed by the province that circled the world. that "the risk of accidents serious last year to conduct a $1.5 million The professor emeritus of the enough to affect the public ad- inquiry into the safety of Ontario University of Toronto said his versely can never be zero, but . . . reactors, said it's "absolutely ab- study found: confusion among if (one) were to occur, it is highly surd" that the government has Ontario Hydro staff about who's likely(it)would be largely contain- done so little to prepare for a nu- responsible on certain safety issues ed,"with minimum hazard to the clear mishap. and in different emergencies; Public." "There's a widespread convic- upper management not heeding safety complaints from workers; long maintenance backlogs; aging Ato-mic ever y re art equipment. very uneasy about reli- • -indi.I.Q. ante on one design," Hare said. B (+ g Y is too `softo building all reactors the same way, VV' ►J�Jl. a. 11 ry the province could face disaster if another serious design fault, like Lobb r®u char es the one with the pressure tubes, is Y � (J � found,he said. r The $42 million spent on re- By Kathleen Kenna Toronto Star tries, and they keep going. This search and development is "small j A new government report on the industry would not keep going if in relation to the (pressure-tube) safety of Ontario nuclear reactors the risk makers had to be responsi- problem and to Ontario Hydro's is too "soft" on the industry and ble. revenues of $2.5 billion from nu- does little to reassure the public Hare also stops short of recom- clear power sales alone, Hare about possible disasters, critics mending provincial and federal said. -say. ministries responsible for the nu- He singled out the 16-year-old The report issued yesterday by clear industry give up power on Pickering plant as the least safe of Dr. Kenneth Hare, commissioner health and safety, to avoid con- Ontario Hydros 16 reactors--and flicts of interest,hesaid. itoses a"minimum hazard to the public." _of the Ontario Nuclear Safety Re- "The most glaring shortfall of blic ." view, praises the CANDU design this report is on the question of re- , "and wrongly concludes . . • forming the regulator. A number `If, however, there are major (reactors) are safe," says Norm of commissions and committees pressure tube failures in the fu- " ,Rubin, spokesman for the anti-nu- have taken a crack at reforming ture, there will certainly be a clear lobby group,Energy Probe. this closed-door, old boy system threat to the operational and main- He also notes the design has al Of all the recommendations tenance crews in the reactor build- ready proved to have serious defi- those from Ken Hare and the ing, as well as a large refitting ciencies in radioactive pressure safety review go the least far.in cost,' he said. tubes that carry uranium fuel. fixing that problem, in bringing Dare suggested these measures "Ontario Hydro will run reac- nuclear regulation out into the for more public accountability on tors and Westinghouse and GE will open." the part of Ontario Hydro and the help build them, as long as they're Dr. Rosalie Bertell, president of Atomic Energy Control Board: all protected by law from being re- the Toronto-based International ❑ Bolding public hearings when sponsible if a reactor has an acei- Institute of Concern for Public the government plans to build new dent,"Rubin said. health, said she's disappointed the nuclear plants. "It's the kind of protection we report doesn't study the effect of ❑ Hydro should appoint an advi- don't give to Union Carbide in reactors on nearby residents, ani- sory committee on nuclear safety. Bhopal or other hazardous Indus- mals and plants• ❑ The five-member AECB should expand to. include environmental experts. ❑ Government should create an advisory council on health and w safety and give money to public interest groups to include them in nuclear energy issues. flare said he found no evidence normal operations of Ontario nu clear plants have caused, major health problems. But, because of "considerable anxiety about the run nored health effects of atuniie. radiation on the general public, residents 1 i v i n a near reactors should continue to be mwi turgid. - ' _.. r - t ..