NWMO delays site selection decision to 2024
The Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) has announced that it has delayed its decision to name the preferred location for a proposed underground nuclear waste facility until the fall of 2024.
The organization has been leading the process to identify a site for the repository since 2010.
“With a project of such complexity and generational scope,” it says, “we have always anticipated that we will need to adapt over the course of the process, while also keeping an eye on the long view.”
The NWMO points to the impact of the lockdowns associated with the COVID-19 pandemic as having impacted its work and forcing the delay.
“We experienced a significant loss of time for face-to-face engagement and interaction, especially in communities exploring their potential to host the project,” said Lise Morton, vice-president of site selection at the NWMO. “Making this small adjustment in timing also gives us and the potential host communities additional time to review and absorb new information as they consider if hosting the project aligns with their vision and priorities.”
This shift in timing is not expected to impact the overall project schedule. Construction of the repository is still expected to begin in 2033, and operation of the repository is expected to begin in the early 2040s.
Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation-Ignace area in northwestern Ontario and the Saugeen Ojibway Nation-South Bruce area in southern Ontario are the two communities on the short list to host the underground repository.
Plans call for the repository to be built more than 500 metres below ground encased in natural shield of solid rock. The design would involve a series of engineered and natural barriers to ensure the facility's safety for thousands of years.
The organization said the plan will only proceed in a host area with “informed and willing hosts, where the municipality, First Nation and Métis communities, and others in the area are working together to implement it."
The NWMO points to a number of important milestones that were achieved in 2022. Among them, it released a series of community studies on such issues as employment and workforce growth, opportunities for businesses, infrastructure improvements and construction of a centre of expertise. It also published Confidence in Safety reports for each potential site. The reports provide detailed results about each community’s capacity to host the project and meet safety requirements.
The organization also completed a full-scale demonstration of the engineered barriers that will safely contain and isolate used nuclear fuel in the repository, and released its transportation planning framework and preliminary transportation plan to transport used nuclear fuel to the site.
The NWMO says it will proceed with its plan only in an area with informed and willing hosts, and where it can work with the local municipality, First Nation and Métis communities, and others in the area to implement the plan.