The Canadian government this week requested that utility Ontario Power Generation provide even more information regarding its plans for a deep geologic repository near Lake Huron for storage of low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste from three nuclear power plants.
This latest development could further slow development of the facility, though by how long remains an open question.
Canadian Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna in December delayed authorizing the proposed repository at the Bruce nuclear power plant in Kincardine, saying her office needed additional information and more time to “take into account circumstances that are specific to the project.” At McKenna’s request, Ontario Power Generation submitted additional information on the project in January, after which the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency began reviewing the data and accepting public comments.
“Taking into consideration the comments received, the Agency has determined that additional information is required from OPG to meet the requirements outlined in the Minister’s request,” CEAA Panel Manager Robyn-Lynne Virtue said in a letter dated Wednesday to Lise Morton, vice president for nuclear waste management at Ontario Power Generation.
The request for additional information covers three broad topics: the study of alternate locations, as required by the government, including air quality, transportation issues, and cost variance; analysis of cumulative environmental effects; and mitigation measures.
Virtue’s letter asks that OPG submit an anticipated schedule for delivering its responses to the information request.
The projected $13 billion (CAD) repository would be built 680 meters underground for permanent storage of 200,000 cubic meters of waste. Construction would take about five years, followed by decades of waste emplacement, according to an OPG life-cycle schedule from January 2011.
OPG has touted the low permeability of the limestone in which the repository would be built, to ensure no waste escapes into the environment, and the support of nearby communities. Nonetheless, the Canadian government has delayed a decision multiple times amid vocal opposition to the project on both sides of the U.S.-Canadian border.
“Burying nuclear waste less than a mile from Lake Huron just doesn’t make sense,” U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.) said in a press release in which he posted Virtue’s letter to OPG. “Doing so would threaten our economy and drinking water for 48 million people. Surely in the vast land mass that comprises Canada, there must be a better place to permanently store nuclear waste than on the shores of the Great Lakes.”
Ontario Power Generation has said it would cost up to $3.5 billion (CAD) more to build at a different location, which could also slow the project by 20 to 30 years. There are also different environmental impacts and the uncertainty of persuading communities and local tribes to consent to a new proposal, according to the government-owned corporation.
The utility had not responded by deadline to a request for comment regarding the latest information request.
