Construction starts on clean-energy sorting facility
Construction is now underway on a nuclear-materials sorting facility in Kincardine, Ontario, near the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station.
Officials held a ground-breaking ceremony Thursday for the Western Clean-Energy Sorting and Recycling (WCSR) centre on December 16.
OPG clean-energy subsidiary Laurentis Energy Partners, in partnership with contractors Dancor Construction Ltd. will build the facility with an anticipated completion date of next year.
The facility, which will be operated by OPG, will sort low-level radioactive materials, such as used worker garments, small tools, mops and rags, to reduce volumes through processing and to maximize the recycling and free release of clean materials.
“Laurentis is pleased to support this project by delivering a building and equipment that will meet OPG’s need for efficient, advanced and innovative sorting of nuclear materials,” said Laurentis project manager Brad Ellsworth. “By sharing our expertise, we can continue our mission of advancing nuclear-energy innovations and environmental solutions across the nuclear industry.”
The 42,000-square foot WCSR will be located three kilometres to the east of OPG’s Western Waste Management Facility, outside the Bruce nuclear site, at the Bruce Energy Centre. It is expected to employ 25 people when operational.
“This new facility represents an opportunity to reduce our environmental footprint,” said Jason Wooland, Director of Western Operations for OPG’s Nuclear Sustainability Services. “We can minimize the amount of nuclear by-products in storage, by carefully sorting and segregating what is clean, what is recyclable, and what can be processed to reduce the volume.”
Featured image: The Western Clean-Energy Materials and Sorting Facility will be built similar to Laurentis’s facility in Hamilton. Pictured above is the first shipment of low-level materials that arrived at the Hamilton CMSR facility in 2020. (Laurentis)