Hub Staff

Fred Kuntz and Brad Ellsworth from Ontario Power Generation (OPG) provided an update on OPG's Western Waste Management Facility (WWMF) and the Deep Geological Repository (DGR) to Saugeen Shores Council June 10 in Council Chambers.

Ellsworth is the Manager of Western Waste Operations and outlined their plans for the development of five new multi-use storage facilities with construction on the first three to start near the end of 2020. Although the exact size of each facility is yet unknown, Ellsworth said their typical waste storage facilities are designed to hold 6,500 cubic metres of waste.

Elldworth also mentioned upgrades that OPG has made to their incinerator and designs for a new sorting facility, both of which help to minimize their carbon footprint, he said. “This is a vital element of our preventative maintenance program strategy to ensure the incinerator is ready and reliable for future station support,” explained Ellsworth. “The equipment is crucial to our facility to help us reduce our footprint. We get almost 80:1 reduction when we use the incinerator on site," he said.

The planned sorting facility would allow the WWMF to work through old stored waste and collect anything clean and salvageable, such as copper wire, to further reduce their carbon footprint.

Ellsworth spoke of their Environmental Monitoring system and Carbon-14 (C-14) emissions. He reported C-14 emission levels as far below the allowed DRL (Drive Release Limit), but admitted the levels are slowly increasing. The rise in emissions has been attributed to faulty gaskets that will be replaced to resolve the issue.

Fred Kuntz, Manager of Corporate Relations and Communications, delivered a status report on the proposed DGR project that, if it goes ahead, would provide a lasting solution for the low and intermediate level waste disposal. “We are currently seeking federal approval of the environmental assessment,” announced Kuntz.

Kuntz said that OPG is committed to acquiring Saugeen Ojibway Nation (SON) support before any construction begins. The updated DGR analysis that OPG owes the Federal Minister must be informed by the results of SON’s own community process," he said. “SON has said its members will vote on the DGR toward the end of this year.”

In closing, Kuntz revealed some company highlights including their new CEO, Ken Hartwick, the completed Solar Project in Nanticoke and the first ever application in Canada for a Small Modular Reactor (SMR), something he labelled "a significant milestone to the Canadian Nuclear Industry."

Kuntz described SMRs as 50 to 200 MW reactors, significantly smaller than the 800 MW reactors at the Bruce. “Some of them are small enough to fit on the back of a truck,” said Kuntz. The smaller, mobile size of these reactors provides the advantage of using them in remote areas.