Confidence in safety: South Bruce Site

The Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) is presently in a multi-year process of identifying a safe site for a deep geological repository for Canada's used nuclear fuel in an area with informed and willing hosts. This is similar to plans in other countries with nuclear power programs, including in particular Finland and Sweden which have approved sites for their planned deep geological repositories. The fundamental safety objective of the project is to protect humans and the environment, including water, from the effects of radioactive or hazardous substances present in the used fuel. The used fuel radioactivity naturally decreases with time. The deep geological repository, including engineered and natural barriers, provides long-term containment and isolation; in particular while this natural radioactivity decay occurs. Previous discussions and studies have identified the Revell Site in northwestern Ontario and the South Bruce Site in southern Ontario as candidate repository sites. Municipalities, First Nations and Metis communities in both siting areas are working with the NWMO as part of the site selection process. Neither of the two sites have yet been identified as the preferred site. This report focuses on the South Bruce Site. It summarizes the results as of early 2022 indicating that this site would be suitable from a technical perspective for hosting a repository. It is intended to support public discussion around site selection. (author)