Midwestern

New Document Lays Out The Site Selection Process For Nuclear Waste

The Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) is looking for public comment on its draft plan of action for the next five years.

The NWMO is planning to spend nearly $23-billion to stash high level nuclear waste underground in a deep geologic repository.

The organization has narrowed down a list of possible sites from 21 to nine, including South Bruce, Huron Kinloss, and Central Huron.

The "Implementing Adaptive Phased Management 2017 to 2021 Draft" lays out the next five years of work.

The organization will spend the next five years building relationships with willing communities to find a safe location. It will continue to test an engineered barrier system to ensure it can contain the radiation for the very long term. It will also ensure funds are available to pay for long term nuclear waste management.

"One focus of the 2017 to 2021 period will be on siting and working with potentially interested communities as they move through the preliminary assessments step in the siting process," the report says. "Activities will support community learning and engagement, as well as site evaluation."

The budget in the latest document is up $7-billion from the last estimate a few years ago.

The cost of a second nuclear storage repository in Bruce County is estimated at $1-billion.

In the meantime, OPG is conducting some hypothetical computer simulations on two unidentified sites to satisfy Ministry of Environment orders to look at alternatives to the other planned nuclear waste repository at the Bruce Power site.

OPG has offered to complete the studies by the end of the year. The studies for the Kincardine site took ten years to complete.

There are questions as to urgency for a repository for low and medium level nuclear waste in Kincardine when a a site for a repository for high level nuclear waste will not even be selected until about 2023. Another question is why there is a need for two repositories.

Blackburn News (CKNX News) is waiting for the Ministry of Environment to respond to some of those questions.

The NWMO draft document can be found here

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