The first borehole has been fully drilled in Canada’s search for a location to dispose of radioactive spent fuel from the nation’s nuclear reactors, according to the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO).
Drilling began on Nov. 6, 2017, and wrapped up on Jan. 16 at the site roughly 22 miles west of the township of Ignace in Ontario, NWMO said in a press release. The area is among a number of potential sites for a planned deep geologic repository for used fuel.
The borehole was drilled to provide NWMO with core samples and enable the nonprofit organization to access deeper rock for its study “to build an understanding of the characteristics of the rock at or near a potential repository,” the release says.
The core samples and borehole will be studied throughout the year. Four other locations are also being analyzed in NWMO’s search for a location with both a viable rock formation for the borehole and a supportive community to host the spent fuel, the organization said. NWMO hopes to select its preferred location by 2023, and from 2040 to 2045 to open the 500-meter-deep repository for up to 5.4 million spent fuel bundles.
Three Canadian nuclear power companies formed NWMO in 2002 to site and develop the disposal facility.
