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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFebruary 15 L MINUTES OF THE FIRST MEETING OF THE PICKERING/ONTARIO HYDRO LIAISON COMMITTEE HELD ON THURSDAY,FEBRUARY 15, 1996 AT 7:30 P.M. IN THE INFORMATION CENTRE PICKERING NUCLEAR GENERATING STATION Present: Mayor Wayne Arthurs, Committee Chair Councillor Sherry Senis, Vice Chair Helen Brake, Representative of the General Public Evans Enyolu, Representative of PACT Pierre Charlebois, Station Director, PNGS Ross Fitchett, Public Affairs,PNGS Bud Woodline,Acting Manager, Cherrywood District C.M. Timothy Sheffield, Town Manager Tom Quinn,Executive Director of Operations Bruce Taylor, Town Clerk Irene Kock, observer from Durham Nuclear Awareness 1. " Meeting Called To Order Mayor Arthurs called the meeting to order and thanked those present for taking the time to work on this Committee. He noted that the main purpose for establishing this Committee is to keep the lines of communication open between Ontario Hydro and the Town and ultimately the community. Mayor Arthurs asked that future agendas include a section that will allow interested parties to address this Committee at the beginning of its meetings. Pierre Charlebois stated that he welcomes the opportunity to meet with the public and discuss issues of mutual concern but noted that he does not want to set the agenda. He indicated that the Atomic Energy Control Board has a new Senior Project Manager who has offered to meet with the Committee. 2. Review of the Terms of Reference The following comments were made with respect to the Terms of Reference of the Committee: ..../2 I, L tl - - 2- - Can the Terms of Reference be expanded upon? What will this forum be; are the citizen members appointed to represent other groups? Are issues such as safety or the discharge of tritium on the agenda for discussion? What are the mutual concerns of Ontario Hydro and the Town? - How far will this Committee go in its mandate? - The mandate of the Committee is too narrow and needs to be elaborated upon. The mandate should set out what information should be exchanged, how it will be exchanged and what type of group this Committee purports to be,ie. an advocacy group, etc. 3. Overview of the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station Pierre Charlebois distributed an information folder that included an overview of the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station. He noted that the Vision Statement of the Station as well as the Values and Principles Statement stresses safety as an important component of the operations of the Station. He further noted that the AECB has given its approval to re-start Unit 2. In response to a statement that the overview did not include anything on safety, Pierre Charlebois noted that safety has two facets: 1. Personnel Safety which includes an employee safety program and the monitoring of radioactivity. 2. Public Safety which provides for the measurement of safety systems, tracks and monitors emissions, measures radiation off-site, protection of the environment and reduction of waste. ..../3 - - 3 - A question was asked if the health records of the staff have been tracked over the years. Pierre Charlebois responded that Ontario Hydro has a Health Physics Department that monitors staff health over a long term. The Town Manager noted that a letter from the Regional Medical Officer of Health has been distributed that advises of the establishment of a Durham Nuclear Health Committee whose mandate is act as a forum for discussing and addressing health issues related to the radiological emissions from Ontario Hydro's nuclear generating stations in Durham Region. The Medical Officer of Health requests that the work of this Committee and the Durham Nuclear Health Committee be co- ordinated and the Town Manager asked how the Committee wants to accomplish this. It was agreed that there should be an exchange of Minutes and agendas and in future, a member of each Committee could be appointed to attend the meetings of the other Committee. Bud Wood ne gave an overview of the role of the Cherrywood Transformer Station in the distribution of electrical energy and stated that a future meeting of this Committee should be held at that Station to get a better understanding of its operations. Pierre Charlebois noted that a monthly report is now provided to Members of Council and an informational pamphlet is distributed to residents in a defined area of the Town. With respect to the informational pamphlet, it was suggested that this be distributed to all residents of the Town and to all community associations and schools. It was further suggested that this pamphlet could go out with one or both of the weekly newspapers and that it could be included in the Town's Newsletter. Ross Fitchett noted that he is now providing information to the local media on a monthly basis. It was suggested that information from Ontario Hydro should be assessed and the question was asked how the community could assess such information and comment on it. 4. Date of Next Meeting The Committee agreed that the next meeting will be held on Thursday, April 18, 1996 at 7:30 p.m. at the Pickering Civic Complex. A meeting will also be held sometime in June at the Cherrywood Transformer Station. .14 - - 4- - It was agreed that the agenda for the next meeting should be as follows: 1. Adoption of Minutes of February 15th meeting. 2. Hear interested members of the public who which to address the Committee. 3. Discuss an addendum to the mandate of the Committee. 4. Discuss the re-licensing of the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station. 5. Tom James of the Durham Regional Emergency Measures Organization to be invited to given an overview of the role of that Organization. In addition to the above, if any member of the Committee has concerns, they should be noted in writing and sent to the Town Clerk for inclusion on the next agenda. The Committee agreed that a generic press release could be prepared that indicates that this Committee has now met and is active. It was noted that all meetings of this Committee will be open to the public and meeting dates will be publicized. 5. Tour of the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station Members of the Committee were taken on a tour of the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station and returned to the Information Centre for an informal discussion. 6. Adi ournment The meeting adjourned at 10:15 p.m.