Canada selects underground site to store used nuclear fuel in perpetuity

Canada has chosen a site in northern Ontario to be its first deep underground depository for used nuclear fuel following a 14-year selection process, the country’s Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) said on Thursday.

The decision means the project will advance into the regulatory process and, if approved, construction would start in the 2030s, providing Canada’s five existing nuclear power stations and any future nuclear reactors with a place to store used fuel in perpetuity.

Only one deep geological depository currently exists in the world, a recently completed project in Finland, but other nuclear nations including France and Sweden are also advancing plans for their own long-term storage sites.

The NWMO had to consider the stability of underground rock formations, proximity to natural resources and what the surrounding area may look like millennia into the future, said Laurie Swami, CEO of NWMO, a non-profit organization set up under Canada’s Nuclear Fuel Waste Act.

“A large part of our work is focused on planning for the future, not hundreds of years out but 60,000 years out,” Swami told Reuters in a phone interview.

“We think about glaciation cycles and took that into consideration as we did the design and safety assessment.”

The depository would be built around 500 meters underground, well below any ground water, surrounded by crystalline rock and granite and far from any valuable natural resource deposits that future generations may one day want to extract.

The site is near the town of Ignace and on the traditional territory of the Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation and both communities would receive direct payments in return for hosting the site, Swami said.

Construction is expected to bring 1,000 workers to the region and cost about C$4.5 billion ($3.2 billion).

“(Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation) views our role as the potential host for Canada’s used nuclear fuel as one of the most important responsibilities of our time. We cannot ignore this challenge and allow it to become a burden for future generations,” said Chief Clayton Wetelainen in a statement.

Nuclear energy provides about 15 percent of Canada’s electricity. Last year the country joined 22 others in pledging to triple their nuclear power capacity by 2050 to help reach net-zero carbon emissions.

($1 = 1.4005 Canadian dollars)