NWMO reveals waste-transport options
The Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) has released two planning documents that could shape how much and how frequently nuclear waste is shipped along Northern Ontario highways.
The organization’s preliminary transportation plan looks at the logistics of moving spent nuclear fuel from interim storage facilities near reactor sites across Canada to a planned deep geological repository site, the location of which is still to be decided. The transportation program is expected to begin in the 2040s, once the repository is operational.
“While transportation of used nuclear fuel won’t happen for at least 20 years, we know it’s a subject of broad public interest and we want to hear from Canadians and Indigenous peoples about what they want to see in a safe and socially acceptable transportation plan,” said Caitlin Burley, the NWMO’s Transportation Engagement Manager. “The planning framework and preliminary plan provide a solid foundation to advance our public dialogue as we develop more detailed site-specific transportation plans in the years to come.”
The framework sets out objectives, priorities and considerations for transporting used nuclear fuel. It includes options for transportation over road and an option for supplemental rail transport. The proposed site in Ignace can be accessed by both road and rail, while the South Bruce site lacks rail infrastructure.
Until the final decision is made on a storage site, however, the plan’s focus is on road options.
An all-road approach could see as many as 620 truck shipments annually along provincial roads, or approximately one to two shipments per day. An all-rail approach might involve about 60 train shipments each year, or approximately one shipment every six days.
As of June, Canada had approximately 3.1 million used fuel bundles in temporary storage. If Canada’s existing reactors operate to the end of their planned lives, including planned refurbishment, the inventory of used fuel that will need to be shipped to the repository could be about 5.5 million bundles.
Further updates in the plan also include more discussion of the importance of Indigenous voices in the planning process and an acknowledgement that people have concerns about existing infrastructure gaps and impacts.
“In 2015, we started an inclusive dialogue about transportation to hear from a diverse cross-section of individuals, municipalities, First Nation and Métis communities and organizations, and first responders,” said NWMO engagement manager Caitlin Burley. “To date, we have engaged with thousands of Canadians and Indigenous peoples to understand their perspectives, suggestions, questions and concerns related to the transportation of used nuclear fuel. And, like everything else we do, we are interweaving western science and Indigenous Knowledge into our transportation planning approaches.”
In Canada, the transportation of used nuclear fuel is jointly regulated by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and Transport Canada.
Transportation plans will continue to evolve and become more detailed over the next 20 years of planning. NWMO says it will review and revise its Transportation Planning Framework every three years.
Meanwhile, it has said it will make a decision between the Ignace and South Bruce sites in 2023. Ignace council voted in December to defer the decision on accepting the waste facility until its new council is elected in October.
South Bruce announced in December that it would hold a referendum on the issue, also after the next municipal election.