After 14 years of searching, Canada’s nuclear power industry has found the perfect place to dig a really deep hole to store nuclear waste.
What happened: The Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO), an industry body, chose a site in northern Ontario that will house Canada’s first permanent storage facility for nuclear waste. The facility will be a deep geological repository, a type of underground storage compound.
- The NWMO plans to dig 500 metres into the Earth, creating a space where pellets of spent nuclear fuel will be securely stored by geological formations and thick concrete walls.
Why it matters: As nuclear energy regains prominence, the issue of long-term safety has grown more pressing. Ontario plans to bolster existing power plants and is considering building a new large-scale one. Private company Energy Alberta is working on a proposal to build a plant in northern Alberta.
Yes, but: Using a deep geological reserve for nuclear storage is still unproven, as no country has done it yet. Finland will be the first to test it out, with plans to put waste into the ground as soon as next year. The Ontario site won’t see any waste until the 2040s.—QH