The Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) is the organization responsible for the long term management of nuclear waste from Canada’s nuclear power plants. In collaboration with the Government of Canada, the NWMO developed Adaptive Phased Management (APM). This plan covers every stage of used nuclear fuel management, from nuclear generating stations to the disposal site in the Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation and Ignace area.
For more than ten years, Novika has been working with the NWMO to develop processes used for disposal, which must remain safe for two hundred thousand years.
The core concept developed by the NWMO is to store used nuclear fuel in sealed steel containers, which are then placed inside underground galleries. The NWMO uses a mineral called bentonite to fill the space around the containers. Bentonite has several properties that help protect used nuclear fuel over the long term. To increase the density of the material and make it easier to install the containers in the galleries, the containers are first placed inside rigid bentonite blocks. Granular bentonite is then placed around these blocks to fill as much of the remaining space as possible.
Novika delivered a prototype of equipment designed to deposit granular bentonite around the containers. This equipment was entirely designed, manufactured, and tested by Novika. A full scale trial, including the placement of containers, without nuclear waste of course, was carried out last April inside a mock underground gallery at the NWMO’s facility in Oakville, Ontario.
The trial was a success across the board. To everyone’s great satisfaction, the prototype equipment developed by Novika proved effective in depositing granular bentonite around the containers.
