The Nuclear Waste Management Organization has paid to send representatives of several northwestern Ontario communities to Paris for an international conference on underground storage.
Mayors or councillors from Manitouwadge, Hornepayne, White River and Ignace are part of a delegation representing the nine Canadian communities still under consideration for hosting a future nuclear waste repository.
Hornepayne Mayor Morley Forster said the four-day-long conference is proving to be very educational, "and it's an ability to see just exactly how the various countries are developing their science and expertise, and cooperating with each other.
"Because that's been the decision that most of the countries have come up with that I'm aware of ... they're all going to be burying the high-level waste from nuclear generating stations."
In a telephone interview today with Marathon-based CFNO radio, Forster said the NWMO is looking after all the expenses for the trip. "It's wonderful...to network with folks and talk to them and see how they are dealing with the same problems."
The group has already toured a French underground storage research facility about four hours' travel from Paris, and situated 500 metres beneath the surface.
In an e-mailed statement to tbnewswatch.com, NWMO spokesperson Bradley Hammond said the organization believes "communities should not be out-of-pocket for learning...By covering costs like these, we ensure communities do not have to decide between learning more about the safe, long-term management of used nuclear fuel, and meeting other worthy local needs."
NWMO expects to complete the selection of a storage site by 2023, with regulatory approvals still to follow. By coincidence, that is the same year that Finland is scheduled to begin operating its first deep geological repository for nuclear waste.
Globally, Finland has advanced the farthest in developing an underground storage site. NWMO Vice-President of Design and Construction, Derek Wilson, told tbnewswatch.com that "Finland is leading the way...We do have the opportunity to learn from their experiences."
The Finnish repository is being constructed in the same kind of rock that's found in northern Ontario. "We have collaboration with Finland, we participate on joint research projects with them...We have utilized Posiva staff to do peer reviews of our conceptual designs." Posiva is the Finnish nuclear waste management organization.
Wilson said the benefits of exchanging information with the Finns and other countries show why it's important for NWMO staff and for communities to attend the kind of conference that's currently underway in Paris.
The meetings wrap up on Friday.
