Ontario Power Generation has told the Ministry of Environment there are additional costs and risks if low and medium level nuclear waste has to be shipped from Bruce Power to an alternate storage site.
Minister Catherine McKenna wanted OPG to study alternate sites before she rules on the planned Deep Geologic Repository to be built at Bruce Power in Kincardine.
The OPG's Fred Kuntz says the risks are higher at alternate locations since low and medium level nuclear waste is currently stored at Bruce Power, along with the site's spent fuel.
"Road safety for the additional trucking that's required. There's additional risk in all the handling because currently the proposal is to move this waste 100 m from where it is right now into the DGR," says Kuntz.
However, Kuntz is confident spent nuclear fuel will be safely shipped off site to a second planned DGR yet to be built.
"That is not a risk that is unacceptable or that wouldn't be mitigated. I mean, safety first, and used fuel can be transported safely," he explains.
Kuntz also says the low, medium and high level nuclear waste currently stored at their waste management facility at Bruce Power, cannot be stored together in the same DGR due to regulations, shapes, and various thermal conditions.
Huron Kinloss, Central Huron and South Bruce are interested in hosting a DGR for spent fuel from all of Canada's nuclear reactors.
Kuntz says OPG will share findings about increased costs, and environmental impacts with the Nuclear Waste Management Organization which is studying the spent fuel repository. He adds OPG found that having two possible nuclear storage sites within 20 km of each other would not increase environmental concerns.
OPG looked at building their DGR in Crystalline rock somewhere in Southern Ontario, and in sedimentary rock somewhere in Northern Ontario.
OPG says additional trucking of the waste will mean 22,000 extra shipments and over a million kilometres of travel, which will impact air quality. That will cause a small increase in the risk of radiation exposure, and the risk of a traffic collisions.
The OPG report says establishing a new site has adverse effects on wildlife and vegetation, and will impact air quality.
OPG says a new location would add between $1.2 billion and $3.5 billion to the cost.
An independent federal joint review panel recommended in 2015 that OPG’s project move ahead.
