A sketch of the planned underground storage for nuclear fuel (Provided by the NWMO)A sketch of the planned underground storage for nuclear fuel (Provided by the NWMO)
Midwestern

South Bruce Community Liaison Committee watches presentation from scientist regarding DGR barrier system

The South Bruce Community Liaison Committee met virtually this month and watched a presentation by Dr. Jamie Noel, an electrochemist and corrosion scientist.

Dr. Noel is an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the University of Western Ontario and he currently leads a team of students and fellow scientists who are researching and conducting experiments specifically on the corrosion of copper, carbon steel and other materials.

Dr. Noel outlined several potential corrosion processes of a used fuel container.

That includes a number of hypothetical scenarios where corrosion of copper may occur; at what rates and under what circumstances. The research is of interest to the CLC because the used fuel containers being studied are designed with a copper coating, and are part of the multi-barrier system of a Deep Geological Repository.

Dr. Noel spoke to the interaction between copper and other elements, which would be unlikely in a DGR multi-barrier system.

Questions from community members can be directed to CLC Coordinator Vivian Kennedy at sbclc@southbruce.ca and will be forwarded to Dr. Noel for his response.

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