Duane Hicks
The Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) will issue a draft siting process plan later this month to see if communities in Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, and New Brunswick are interested in being the site for a long-term nuclear waste disposal project in decades to come.
The not-for-profit organization, which was an exhibitor at the annual conference of the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association held last month in Fort Frances, was formed in 2002 by Ontario Power Generation Inc., Hydro-Québec, and New Brunswick Power Corp., in accordance with the Nuclear Fuel Waste Act, to assume responsibility for the long-term management of Canada’s used nuclear fuel.
Its first mandate was to study options for the long-term management of nuclear waste, and it conducted a study from 2002-05.
On June 14, 2007, the federal government selected the NMWO’s recommendation for Adaptive Phase Management (APM), which is based on consultations with the public during the three-year study.
Both a technical method and a management system, APM ultimately will result in the containment and isolation of used nuclear fuel in a deep geological depository constructed in a suitable rock formation.
This could be under the Canadian Shield, somewhere in the Prairies, or in another location deemed suitable.
Used nuclear fuel currently is stored on an interim basis at licensed facilities at reactor sites in Ontario, Quebec, and New Brunswick, and the Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd.’s (AECL) nuclear research facility in Manitoba.
The project ultimately will involve constructing facilities and infrastructure to support the safe and secure containment and isolation of used nuclear fuel indefinitely 500-1,000 metres (one kilometre) underground.
It will require about 600 hectares (1,480 acres) of land in a rectangle roughly two km by three km in size, but the surface buildings only would take up a small portion of the total land area.
The NWMO has since made the implementation of APM its mandate, and NWMO communications manager Michael Krizanc said in an interview that as a next step, it will publish a draft siting process plan, the focus of which will be first principles, objectives, and key issues that will need to be considered in the siting process.
This will be the subject of extensive review, comment, and dialogue for the rest of the year. It subsequently would be revised and finalized, taking into consideration all comments received from Canadians.
While still in the early stages, Krizanc said the public has to realize the end result will be a massive project, costing $16-$26 billion and providing skilled employment for hundreds of people over decades.
The site selection process will be extensive to assure any chosen site is suitable, safe, and designed to maximize effectiveness, and many factors will have to be considered.
“We are going to be seeking an informed and willing community. It will not be imposed on anybody,” Krizanc stressed.
“Safety is first,” he added. “Any site will have met technical criteria to ensure that it’s safe.
“But we’re not going to be asking communities to opt in, they will decide themselves if they want to opt in to the process and they can decide if they want to drop out.
“This is going to be a community-based decision. This is not going to be imposed on anybody,” he reiterated.
“There are some limitations communities are going to have to think about,” Krizanc continued. “Obviously, during the construction phase, there is going to be a lot more employment than there is during the operational phase, so communities will have to think about how they’re going to provide the infrastructure for the influx of workers, and what they’re going to do afterwards.
“And the NWMO is going to see it as a partnership between the community and ourselves, so we’re going to have to be part of the solution,” he noted.
“If there’s things that are going to have to be mitigated within the community, how do we help them with their infrastructure issues or the other kinds of issues they may have?
“The other thing I want to stress is finding a site is going to be a very long-term process,” Krizanc noted. “If communities come forward at some point, and say that they are interested in learning more, we are thinking we are going to have work with these communities for eight-10 years to provide the information they need, to answer the questions that they have, so they can make a decision in their own best interests.
“Communities are also going to have to decide how they’re going to demonstrate to us they are willing communities. A 50 percent plus one vote at council ain’t going to cut it. . . .
“We’re going to have to come to some kind of agreement with any interested communities as to how they might demonstrate that, whether it’s a referendum, a door-to-door poll, etc.”
Communities that are interested also will have the option of opting out at any point.
“After eight-10 years, if there are communities still interested, we’ll have to select one of them, and in partnership with the NWMO, they will go through a licensing process, which is going to take many years, as well,” Krizanc explained.
“For an environmental assessment, it’s likely going to take five years or more. And once we get a construction licence, we will have to go down into the ground and build an underground laboratory to test our theories about whether or not it is a suitable place to demonstrate the technology to the satisfaction of people.
“Finally, to construct the facility would take another 10-15 years.
“It would 30 years from now before any used fuel is moved anywhere. It’s a very long-term project,” he noted. “It might seem kind of slow, but that’s the way it’s going to be.”
Krizanc clarified the siting proposal process is about getting information about the project out to communities to see if interest will emerge, adding the NWMO has no intention of targeting specific communities.
The NWMO is focusing its effort in places that “benefit from the nuclear fuel cycle,” specifically Ontario, Quebec, and New Brunswick which have reactor sites, and Saskatchewan, which has uranium mines.
But if expressions of interest come from other provinces, they may be considered, Krizanc said.
The NWMO will be holding open house starting next month to present the siting proposal and get feedback in it.
While open houses likely only will be held in regional centres, such as Thunder Bay, any community interested in more information, or wanting to invite the NWMO to visit them, can contact the NWMO at www.nwmo.ca
