Feature Part 2: Supporting parties for Canada’s nuclear disposal

Considering that the top priority around nuclear power is safety, the parties who support the deep geological repository base their arguments around this focus, as well as the scientific research they have carried out over many years. I reached out to Neal Kelly of Ontario Power Generation to obtain further insight on the planning process for the DGR.

Waste containers are carefully transported by site vehicles

The intermiediete waste such as silicon chips from reactors is currently stored is these containers

The Western Waste Facility is where incineration and compacting takes place.

All employees and visitors must pass through these radiation scanners twice. Once to go in, and again to come out

These containers have been used to transport nuclear waste to the site.

Waste transport containers use short codes to identify waste type and quantity.

Waste management at the Bruce Nuclear Site is currently handled through incineration, compacting or storage. The first two of these are carried out to lower the overall volume of nuclear waste with very high environmental controls reaching 800 and later 1000 degrees Celsius. This process has been a common fixture of the nuclear site for many years, with waste being transported to the site using specific containers like the ones in the images above. Neal Kelly also said that if the DGR was not approved, then the Bruce Site would continue to store nuclear waste on the surface as they are currently doing whilst maintaining their processes of incinerating and compacting.

“We have been going through a process, the environmental assessment process, we’re reaching the end of it. We anticipate that we will hear a decision from the federal government shortly” Neal Kelly

Some of the more closely examined rocks are kept on display for organisations who are invited to the station

Each set of rocks is sorted by date of collection and run number

An entire room is dedicated to storing the large collection of rocks

These rocks from Cobourg form the “Canadian Shield”

Another major aspect of the project has been the collection and study of several types of rock which stretch back millions of years. The most prominent of these are the rocks taken from the settlement of Cobourg, part of the “Canadian Shield”. Dating back to the Cambrian period around 540 million years ago, these formations surround Lake Huron and are stronger than concrete. This information and study of the shield led the OPG to conclude that they are the most suitable and safe location to bury the low and intermediate waste.

The Municipality of Kincardine is the host for the deep geological repository and in the years since they first approached Ontario Power Generation, they have pursued the project for the interest in a safer method of storing nuclear waste underground, rather than using containers on the surface which may be susceptible to storms and violent weather. I spoke with Kincardine’s mayor to find out more about their contributions to the project and its safety precautions.

Mayor Eadie went on to say that FM alerts, as well as KI pills (potassium iodide) have been supplied and distributed to nearby communities within a ten kilometer zone if there ever was an accident at the Bruce Station. These pills are used to protect the body’s internal organs by preventing radiation from being absorbed. There are also further safety measures applied across a fifty kilometer radius which extend into other settlements such as Bruce and Huron Counties.

The third part of this feature will look at the opposition to the DGR, most notably the Canadian aboriginals of the Saugeen First Nation.