THE TERRESTRIAL ENVIRONMENT
Description
The following is a summary of the information found in the document entitled "Terrestrial Environment – Existing Environmental Conditions Technical Support Document, New Nuclear - Darlington Environmental Assessment" and describes the determined baseline terrestrial environmental conditions used as a basis for the Environmental Impact Assessment for the New Nuclear Darlington Project, in 2009. The terrestrial environment is evaluated based on six components, according to the Environmental Impact Assessment: "Vegetation Communities and Species, Insects, Bird Communities and Species, Amphibians and Reptiles, Mammal Communities and Species, and Landscape Connectivity". The map on the right, shows the location of the existing Darlington Nuclear Plant and the site for the newly proposed project, as well as the neighbouring Pickering A and B Plant and Bruce A and B Plant, which will be used for comparison of the environmental assessment later on. |
Map of the locations of Nuclear Plants in Ontario, Canada.
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For the purpose of the Environmental Assessment for this project, three Study Areas were chosen to evaluate the baseline conditions. As seen in the map bellow, these include the Site Study Area, covering the land owned my OPG that would be subject to construction including surrounding areas deemed to be "associated with it as a result of a biophysical connection". The other two areas, the Local Study Area and the Regional Study Area, respectively, the former extending 10km round the Darlington Nuclear Plant Site and the latter extending "from Toronto in the west to
Belleville in the east, and north to Peterborough".
The idea behind evaluating the environmental conditions at three different scales, is to better assess the risks of going ahead with the project, in oder to estimate the scale of the different impacts and their relative importance for the entire region.
The idea behind evaluating the environmental conditions at three different scales, is to better assess the risks of going ahead with the project, in oder to estimate the scale of the different impacts and their relative importance for the entire region.
Map of the study areas of the project. Notice that there are three study areas: site, local and regional study areas. Moreover, the regional study area overlaps with area of the Pickering Nuclear Plant, allowing us to make comparisons of the terrestrial environment of the two Power Plant sites and the areas around them.
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This map shows the extent of the areas on the property of OPG at the existing Darlington Nuclear site that will be directly affected by the construction of new reactors, as well as the areas of the property that will be subject to mitigation measures and restoration efforts.
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The Site Study Area encompasses a total of 284.4ha (or 2.84 square kilometres). The site is covered mostly by cultural communities (229.4ha of the total area), woodland, thicket and meadow that have been planted and are maintained by the property owner. Another significant portion of the land is covered by aquatic plants, in total 21.4ha, of swamps and open and submerged aquatic environment is present, as well as 13.4ha of marsh. The rest of the area has some type of wood cover, either forest or bluff. There have been 340 plant species recorded on site, 40% of which invasive, thus it was deemed that on site there was a lot of disturbance and the floristic quality was low.
There are also a number of artificial ponds on the property that were constructed as mitigation measures for the initial construction of the power plant. These have become an essential part of the ecosystem and support various plant and animal species, for example they attract nine provincially vulnerable species of dragon flies. Some of those ponds will be destroyed during the construction phase of the new nuclear reactors.
The Darlington Nuclear Site falls on the migratory path of many insects, like the Monarch butterfly. It is also a home and breeding grounds for a variety of bird species, 213 species of which migratory birds. The Bank Swallow nests in burrows along the shore of Lake Ontario, in 1999, about 600 nests were recorded on and off the territory of the property, however at the time of the environmental assessment none were left. A few species of frogs and turtles have successfully colonized the artificial ponds. Finally, some 30 species of mammals have been observed on the property. Since the northern part of the site area consists of relatively undisturbed wildlife habitat, it is considered that the landscape connectivity at the moment is good.
There are also a number of artificial ponds on the property that were constructed as mitigation measures for the initial construction of the power plant. These have become an essential part of the ecosystem and support various plant and animal species, for example they attract nine provincially vulnerable species of dragon flies. Some of those ponds will be destroyed during the construction phase of the new nuclear reactors.
The Darlington Nuclear Site falls on the migratory path of many insects, like the Monarch butterfly. It is also a home and breeding grounds for a variety of bird species, 213 species of which migratory birds. The Bank Swallow nests in burrows along the shore of Lake Ontario, in 1999, about 600 nests were recorded on and off the territory of the property, however at the time of the environmental assessment none were left. A few species of frogs and turtles have successfully colonized the artificial ponds. Finally, some 30 species of mammals have been observed on the property. Since the northern part of the site area consists of relatively undisturbed wildlife habitat, it is considered that the landscape connectivity at the moment is good.
For more information please refer to the TERRESTRIAL ENVIRONMENT ASSESSMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS TECHNICAL SUPPORT DOCUMENT.