Kiewit and WSP selected for building nuclear waste repository in Ontario

The Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO), a non-profit managing Canada’s intermediate- and high-level radioactive waste, has selected Nebraska-based company Kiewit and Montreal-based company WSP to build a nuclear waste storage repository in northwestern Ontario. The construction of the facility will cost at least 3.2 billion dollars (4.5 billion Canadian dollars), while its long-term management costs will be over 26 billion Canadian dollars. The Deep Geological Repository will cooperate with the project by using artificial and natural barriers to isolate nuclear fuel underground on the site, which is in the territory of the Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation. According to the NWMO, the nuclear waste repository will be built over 2000 feet below ground and consist of a network of placement rooms for the fuel containers. Construction works will start after the project has completed the federal government’s multiyear regulatory process and the Indigenous-led Regulatory Assessment and Approval Process, which will be conducted by the Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation. This double process is quite long, so it is unlikely that building operations will begin before the mid-2030s. As reported by CBC News, the aim is to make the site operational by the early 2040s.