Calling on councils: Ontario Power Generation (OPG) is offering delegations to six Bruce-area municipal councils in June, to brief elected officials and local communities about its operations at the Western Waste Management Facilities and the proposed Deep Geologic Repository for low- and intermediate-level waste. The dates for those public briefings are: June 3 at Kincardine; June 10 at Arran-Elderslie; June 10 at Saugeen Shores; June 13 at Bruce County; June 17 at Huron-Kinloss; June 18 at Brockton. Please check your municipality’s website for times and locations of council meetings.
New DGR exhibit: Within the Bruce nuclear site, OPG has installed a new exhibit that explains the proposed Deep Geologic Repository, as well as OPG’s current programs for responsibly managing nuclear waste. The exhibit features a scale model of the DGR, models of OPG trucks used to transport waste, samples of deep rock from geoscientific research at the site, videos and other and visual explanations of how we minimize waste volumes to help protect the environment. Groups wishing to join an organized tour of the Western Waste Management Facility can make a request to OPG’s Lynda Cain lynda.cain@OPG.com
Around Ontario:
· Robo refurb: A new human-to-robot interface could soon allow OPG workers to virtually control machines that perform tasks on the Darlington Refurbishment project. The new technology, dubbed IRIS, means operators can put their mind into the body of a robot using a virtual reality and motion tracking interface, a concept the inventors calls “telereality.”
· Powering up: OPG has reported its Q1 operating and financial results. It was a solid start to the year, as we generated 19.1 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity, an increase from to 18.8 TWh in the same quarter in 2018. OPG’s net income for the Province of Ontario in the first quarter was $213 million, “a strong financial performance,” said OPG President and CEO Ken Hartwick.
· Métis hiree: Travis Ostroskie, a member of the Métis Golden Lake Algonquin, has found work as an electrician – thanks to OPG’s Indigenous Opportunities in Nuclear (ION) program. His new role at the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station is just “the kind of job I had been looking for,” Ostroskie said, in encouraging Indigenous other job-seekers to check out the ION program.
· Future boilermakers: A former office administrator, Mackenzie Rusaw is one of 20 students enrolled in a new three-week boilermaker pre-apprenticeship program at Durham College’s Whitby Campus. “This program will hopefully help me one day work for OPG, or in the oil fields in Alberta,” she said. The program was developed by Durham College, OPG and the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers.
