Local media gets tour of used-fuel dry storage building at Bruce Nuclear site

An informed public is the key to moving forward with a proposed Deep Geologic Repository (DGR) for used nuclear fuel.
 

That's the word from the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) which is tasked with the job of siting a DGR for the long-term management of high-level nuclear waste.
 

And to that end, the NWMO invited the local media for a tour of the Western Waste Management Facility (WWMF)'s used-fuel dry storage area at the Bruce site, Tuesday morning.
 

Kevin Orr, NWMO senior communications advisor, and Paul Austin, relationship manager, escorted seven members of the press through the numerous layers of security into the dry storage facility to get a close look at the current system of managing used fuel in the nuclear industry.
 

Orr explained that, at present, the used nuclear fuel is stored on the site where it is generated. However, a DGR would store the high-level waste from all of Canada's nuclear reactors. Low-level and intermediate-level waste from Bruce, Pickering and Darlington stations, is also stored at the Bruce site.
 

The process begins, said Orr, with empty dry storage containers delivered to the facility, followed by testing to ensure they are the proper size and secure. They are filled with used fuel at the reactor site, and returned to the facility where they are welded closed, inspected, go through a process of vacuum-drying and helium backfill, and the drain plug is welded manually.
 

After a final inspection of the drain plug welds and a helium leak test, the containers have the paint touched up, safeguard seals applied by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors and identification labels attached. The containers are then transported to the storage building where they are secured.
 

Orr said each container weighs 63 tonnes empty, and 73 tonnes loaded. The nuclear fuel is used in the reactor for about 18 months, he said, and then goes into wet storage for about seven to 10 years to cool thermally and radiologically. It is then transported to dry storage.
 

The WWMF had two storage buildings originally when it opened in 2002, but has since built two more, said Orr. Each building holds 500 containers for a total capacity of 2,000 containers. There are more than 1,000 stored there now.
 

“The containers are designed to last 50 years, but we expect they'll last about 100 years,” said Orr. “We have them sitting on carpets and they are lifted and checked regularly for corrosion.”
 

He said the heat generated from a container is the same as 20 100-watt lightbulbs. The WWMF has about 20 hectares of space, but would have to go through another Environmental Assessment process to add more storage buildings.
 

Austin said the “nature of the hazard” of used fuel changes over time. When the fuel bundles come out of the reactor, they are highly radioactive and thermal, but that drops off quickly.
 

“Used fuel is well understood, and is safely isolated and contained,” he said. “We're fully capable of doing that here.”
 

The tour included a quick side trip to the Douglas Point station, the first commercial CANDU reactor in Canada. The 200-megawatt reactor was constructed between 1959-68, and was run by Ontario Hydro from 1968-84. The used fuel is still on the site and is the responsibility of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL).

Douglas Point was decommissioned and all the space, except for the reactor unit, is now used for offices and workshop areas.