Ontario Power Generation commits to completing further DGR studies by year-end

Ontario Power Generation (OPG) has informed the federal government that the company will complete further studies on its proposed Deep Geologic Repository (DGR) by Dec. 31, 2016, states a press release from OPG.

 

In February, the federal minister of environment and climate change, Catherine McKenna, requested that OPG conduct three further studies into its low- and intermediate-level nuclear waste DGR before she would make a decision on the Environmental Assessment.

 

These studies include:
 

1. OPG will assess the environmental effects of two technically- and economically-feasible locations in Ontario for a new nuclear waste disposal facility. One assessment will consider a similar DGR in a sedimentary rock formation located in southern Ontario. The second will consider a similar DGR in a granite rock formation located in central to northern Ontario. Specific locations will not be identified.

 

2. An updated analysis of the cumulative environmental effects of the project, considering the results from preliminary assessments undertaken by the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) for used nuclear fuel. OPG will further study the cumulative effects assuming a used-fuel repository is sited within the DGR study area.

 

3. OPG will undertake a review of its mitigation commitments and all mitigating actions. Any outdated or redundant commitments previously brought forward to the Joint Review Panel (JRP), will be identified.

 

OPG maintains that a DGR is the right answer for Ontario's low- and intermediate-level waste, and that the Bruce site is the right location. The independent federal JRP recommended moving forward with the project, and OPG is confident that further studies will confirm this.

 

The proposed DGR would be located at the Bruce nuclear facility in Kincardine. It would safely store about 200,000 cubic metres of low- and intermediate-level waste from operating Ontario's reliable, greenhouse gas-free nuclear stations. The DGR would permanently and safely isolate and contain the waste 680 metres underground, ensuring protection of the water and the environment.

 

The local communities remain supportive of the project, and OPG is committed to ongoing work with the Saugeen Ojibway Nation.

 

OPG provides about half the power Ontario relies on. The electricity OPG produces is 99.7-per-cent free of greenhouse gas and smog-causing emissions.