Members of the media had a chance to go behind the scenes on Tuesday to see what goes on at the Western Waste Nuclear Storage Facility at Bruce Power in Tiverton.
The dry storage facility is owned by Ontario Power Generation and overseen by the Nuclear Waste Management Organization, a group formed in 2002 as required by the Nuclear Fuel Waste Act.
The Western Waste Management Dry Storage Facility at Bruce Power currently houses more than a 1,000 Dry Storage Containers (or DSC's as they're commonly referred to by employees) carefully packed with used Uranium Fuel bundles.
The massive state-of-the-art facility at the Bruce Power site on the shores of Lake Huron is without a doubt high-tech, safe and very secure according to Mike Krizanc, communications manager for the Nuclear Waste Management Organization.
"When people see [the facility] it's a game changer; they understand that this is something that is very carefully managed, it's a highly technical operation that's very carefully done, very safely done and very secure," says Krizanc.
There's definitely no question as to the security of the facility; equipped with metal detectors, screening systems, Geiger Counters, strict procedures and highly trained security personnel.
Uranium bundles from the Bruce A and B CANDU reactors are carefully stored in massive 68-ton containers, welded shut and carefully monitored by the International Atomic Energy Association throughout the process.
With more than 80,000 used uranium bundles accumulated every year, the facility houses almost 2,000 containers, that's thousands of fuel bundles carefully contained.
Canada currently has roughly 2.4-million bundles safely stored across the country.