Planning continues for the proposed Deep Geological Repository at the Bruce Power site.
The 860 metre deep facility would be used to store low and intermediate level nuclear waste from all of Ontario’s nuclear power plants.
Low and intermediate level waste has small amounts of radiation.
It would be located at Ontario Power Generation’s Western Waste Management Facility, where waste is currently stored above ground after being incinerated or compacted.
Spokesperson Marie Wilson says they’re now waiting for a set of guidelines from the Environmental Assessment process.
She says the next big step comes in 2011 when they submit an impact statement for review by a panel, and the local community.
Drilling the massive repository shaft will not likely begin until 2013 and would take four years to complete.
The proposed layout is to have two underground wings of rooms for waste storage.
The wings would be connected to a central loop tunnel.
Richard Heystee, Manager of Engineering says the proposed layout is compact for maintenance and operations.
He says it will also cost less to build because not as much rock will have to be removed as originally planned.
The repository will resemble a mine shaft and will use mining technology to construct it.
Geoscience Manager Mark Jensen says the rock at the Bruce site is perfect for the facility.
He says core samples of the ancient limestone show it is difficult to permeate because the extremely salty water found inside it hasn’t been able to escape for thousands of years.
He says the lack of seismic activity in the area also makes it a safe choice.
Jensen says federal regulators are very interested in the work they’re doing.
He says they will be reporting the geological findings to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission who will then respond with their comments.
