As Canada explores more nuclear energy generation as part of climate change action plans, Canadians and Indigenous peoples can be confident that the plan for the safe, long-term management of used nuclear fuel is on track.

Speaking at this year’s Canadian Nuclear Association conference, Laurie Swami, President and CEO of the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO), reinforced that the organization is on track to select a site for a deep geological repository to safely manage the country’s used nuclear fuel in late 2024. We have also begun work to advance our separate mandate to plan for a repository for intermediate-level waste and non-fuel high-level waste.

“The nuclear renaissance has arrived in Canada, and we need to seize that moment,” Ms. Swami said. “Governments all over the world are having serious conversations about what it means to fight climate change, build up our energy security, increase exports and support good-paying, unionized jobs. To see all this potential realized, the public is going to want to know how the waste will be managed.”

Communities have been involved for more than a decade in an extensive site selection process for a deep geological repository to safely contain and isolate Canada’s used nuclear fuel. Following a stepwise process of narrowing our focus from the 22 communities that initially expressed interest in participating, two potential sites remain: the Saugeen Ojibway Nation-South Bruce area in southern Ontario and the Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation-Ignace area in northwestern Ontario.

Ms. Swami also noted that as we continue to advance the work to site a repository for Canada’s used nuclear fuel, we are also considering how advancements such as small modular reactors (SMRs) and other new nuclear projects are going to impact our work and planning. Both sites under consideration for Canada’s used nuclear fuel repository have the capacity for expansion and we’re confident that either could house the used fuel that will result from recent announcements of new nuclear projects.

However, just in case we need additional capacity in the future, we are also exploring the potential to include any future used fuel from SMRs or other new nuclear projects in the same repository that we will use to manage the intermediate-level waste and non-fuel high-level waste. 

“Thinking about the future is part of the NWMO’s DNA,” Ms. Swami said. “Even though this new fuel won’t be ready to be placed in a repository for decades, we are already thinking about ways to be flexible and keep options open. We’re proud to leverage our expertise to help solve this important challenge for Canada, and to reassure Canadians and Indigenous peoples that Canada has a plan for all our radioactive waste.”