The Nuclear Waste Management Organization’s (NWMO) plan to bury Canada’s used nuclear fuel in a deep geologic repository is proceeding based on scientific knowledge that assures regulators and stakeholders, including indigenous communities, of its long-term security. The impact of Canadian knowledge was recently seen when the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company (SKB)—Sweden’s counterpart to the NWMO—applied to build its geologic repository. The Swedish Environmental Court posed questions concerning corrosion-resistance of the fuel storage containers. SKB turned to Prof. James Noël (Western University) for answers and received enough science-based insights to satisfy the Court—insights from data collected using neutron beams. The Court granted the license in 2022.
Noël’s findings have been of great interest to the NWMO and its counterparts in Finland, Switzerland, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, as well as Sweden. Today, Noël is continuing research sponsored by the NWMO that aims to cut the cost of Canada’s repository by $2 billion by qualifying innovations in corrosion-resistant storage containers. Further, Noël’s research program was used to test NWMO’s processes for screening research partnerships according to Indigenous reconciliation criteria, which is critical for securing cooperation of Indigenous peoples for implementation of Canada’s geologic repository.
