Nuclear waste management organization 2D deep starts site selection process for geological repository
The Canadian government has not yet decided whether it will allow the nuclear fuel to be recycled in the country, as the nuclear waste management organization (NWMO) announced that it would engage with the public to choose a site for the country’s second deep geological repository.
The nuclear power organization has launched a two-year public engagement process-which will focus on both technical security and community will-to refine the sight selection strategy. The formal site selection process is expected to begin around 2028.
Akira Tokuhiro, a nuclear engineering professor at Ontario Tech University, said that the declaration reflects strategic foresight, but he said that Canada still focuses at permanent disposal of other countries, pursuing a different approach – regenerating and reuse of nuclear fuel.
“One thing I learned on my journey on the French site in 2013 is used fuel or nuclear waste or the fuel spent is re -purposeful or recovered,” he said.
“They have technical means to reproduce that fuel today and put it back into the reactor and to extract more energy.”
Finland is one of the first countries to license a permanent reserves with the option of recovery. France moves ahead, rebuilding its spent fuel to extract more energy, despite being technically viable, a practice was rarely discussed in Canada.
“Canada has certainly technical ability. This does not mean that it has facilities, but it has the ability and know how and smart people recycle the recycle or reuse the fuel spending,” sokuhiro said.
“Even today, Canada is choosing the option not to make that commitment.”
While the Reprocessing is more expensive, he said, it is sure more suited to more climate. But Canada, like many countries, embraced a “once-a-through” cycle: my uranium, use it once, and store the waste indefinitely.
Canada has not followed the leadership of France, Tukuhiro said, comes down to economics.
“It is cheaper overall, it’s to recycle. It is a problem with plastic,” he said.
Returing the atomic fuel spent will still create waste
Dave Novog, Professor of Engineering Physics at McMaster University, said the current Canadian model has been “very attractive” because it means that Canada does not trust anyone else in the world for its fuel or reproducing technology.
“I think it has been a good decision so far when it comes to the type of fuel recycling and advanced reactors, which needs to be done,” Novog told CBC Thunder Bay.
“They are the reactor, at least in my opinion, in their early stages and it will be a great risk for us to say that they will eventually come and save the problem of our ruin.”
Novog said that she likes the approach of the government and the NWMO, given that “these repository takes anywhere to construct 30 to 40 to 50 years. And so by that time, if these advanced reprising techniques are attractive and commercially viable, we can always move in that direction.”
Novog said that the atomic fuel spent will still produce some waste by reproducing fuel.
He said, “We still have to deal and solve a lot of that waste, so I think if the atoms are really going to double or triple, as they had spoken in COP agreements, we are going to create more waste and this is important that we have a solution for it,” he said.
‘Canada is planning for future’
Commissioning of a second deep geological repository is part of an initiative that aims to address the long-term storage of intermediates-and non-fuel high-eloquent radioactive waste from the devices and components used inside nuclear reactors and medical isotoped isotopes and components. The first repository in Ignus township will store the nuclear fuel used from the reactors used.
Laurie Swami, president and CEO of NWMO, said, “International scientific consensus is that a deep geological reserves are the safest way to manage long-term intermediate and high-level waste.”
“Canada is planning for the future.”
Currently, the intermediate and high-level waste of Canada is stored on an interim basis, so these solutions are not considered suitable for long-term control. The new repository will be designed to store the waste, in line with international practices for managing high-level nuclear waste.
The site selection for the second repository will be directed by both technical norms, such as geological suitability and community support. NWMO has emphasized that community consent and indigenous consultation process will be central.
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The two -year engagement period will include public counseling, cultural verification studies and cooperation with indigenous communities.
“We understand that many communities are receiving a lot of requests to engage in major projects. And therefore, we want to make sure that we have a meaningful discussion on the process of getting meaningful inputs and sitting before it applies,” said Joan Jesak, director of site selection in NWMO.
For now, NWMO is encouraging canadian and indigenous people to know more or can participate in the engagement process by visiting NWMO’s website or contacting the organization on ILW@nwmo.CA.
