Highlights

Pickering WasteManagement Facility

• PWMF manages

nuclear waste

safely and

responsibly

• PWMF staff regard

safety and the

environment as

their top priority

• PWMF has an

excellent safety

record and has

achieved a long-

standing record

of no lost time

accidents

O N T A R I O P O W E R G E N E R A T I O N F A C T S H E E T

Facility DescriptionThe Pickering Waste Management Facility (PWMF) consists of structures designed to safely store used

nuclear fuel in Dry Storage Containers (DSCs) and reactor re-tubing components in Dry StorageModules (DSMs).

The PWMF has been planned to provide sufficient capacity to store all of the used fuel from thePickering reactors until the end of the station’s service life. Planned as a two-phase project, Phase I cameinto operation in 1995 and has the capacity to store approximately 700 DSCs, each holding 384 usednuclear fuel bundles. Phase II will have a storage capacity of 800 DSCs and is planned to come intoservice in 2007. The new Phase II facility would be located entirely within the Pickering Nuclear prop-erty to the east of the existing Phase I PWMF in an area currently used for parking and storage.

The used reactor components removed during the successful retubing of the Pickering A reactors in the1980s are stored in specially designed and shielded Dry Storage Modules (DSMs). The DSMs are largecylindrical casks made of reinforced heavy concrete and thick carbon steel inner and outer liners (shownon the left on the aerial photo above).

Pickering Waste Management Facility Phase I

Used Fuel Dry StorageWhen used fuel bundles are removed fromthe reactors at Pickering Nuclear, they arehighly radioactive. They have to be man-aged safely and responsibly for a long time.The first step is to cool the fuel bundlesunder water for up to 10 years in speciallyengineered used fuel bays.

As the Pickering fuel bays become full, it isnecessary to transfer the used fuel from thefuel bays into robust concrete and steel con-tainers and store them at the PWMF on thestation site. The containers - called “DryStorage Containers” - are engineered to last atleast 50 years and will provide safe, interimstorage until a long-term management pro-gram is in place. This dry storage process is aproven, safe and regulated technology that hasbeen in use at Pickering Nuclear since 1995.

The term “dry storage” comes from the factthat the used fuel is stored in a dry state,contained and shielded by the concrete andsteel in the DSCs, and not by water as inthe used fuel bays.

Dry Storage ProcessThe process of loading a dry storagecontainer with used nuclear fuel,begins by submersing the base of the63-ton container into one ofPickering’s water filled used fuel bays.Once in the storage bay, four moduleseach containing 96 used fuel bundlesare loaded into the container underwater. The used fuel bundles havebeen stored in the water filled bay forat least 10 years, duringwhich time they havecooled and becomeless radioactive. Thelid of the container isthen installed andsecured to the base. Thecontainer, now holding 384used fuel bundles is then removed from thebay, drained, decontaminated and vacuumdried. The container is moved under a self-contained vacuum to the PWMF with oneof the dedicated large transport vehicles.Once received at the PWMF, the lid iswelded to the container’s base and the ventport is seal-welded. After the inside of thecontainer has been vacuum dried, it is filledwith helium gas. The remaining drain portis then seal-welded. The helium gas pro-vides a meansof leak detec-tion for thesealed con-tainer andcreates ani n e r ta t m o s -phere forthe stored

used fuel. Before being placed into storage,the container undergoes rigorous testing toensure that it is absolutely leak tight. Priorto placing the container in storage, the sep-arate safeguards seals are applied by aninspector from the International AtomicEnergy Agency.

See page three for more details on the step-by-step process of preparing, loading, pro-cessing and storing dry storage containers.

O N T A R I O P O W E R G E N E R A T I O N F A C T S H E E T

Pickering Waste Management Facility

The transporter moves DSCs containing used fuelfrom the station to the processing building at thePickering Waste Management Facility Phase I

Used fuel is stored for at least 10 years under waterin fuel bays at Pickering Nuclear. The water keepsthe fuel bundles cool and provides an effective radiation shield.

After weld-sealing, paintingand installation of the International

Atomic Energy Agency safeguards seals,the dry storage containers are placed in a

warehouse-like building on-site at Pickering.

Nuclear fuelbundle

O N T A R I O P O W E R G E N E R A T I O N F A C T S H E E T

Pickering Waste Management Facility

The Used Fuel Dry Storage Process

O N T A R I O P O W E R G E N E R A T I O N F A C T S H E E T

Pickering Waste Management Facility

Safety and EnvironmentPickering Waste Management Facility staffare well trained and regard safety and theenvironment as their top priority. Theyhave accomplished significant milestones inthese areas, such as achieving a long stand-ing record of no Lost Time Accidents.

Conducting safe work planning, followingsafe work practices, paying particular atten-tion to detail, along with a safety consciouswork attitude, has led to this excellent safe-ty performance.

The Pickering Waste ManagementFacility has in place an EnvironmentalManagement System (EMS) that estab-lishes strategies, objectives and targets forthe facility to improve environmental per-formance. The EMS is based on the ISO14001 Standard, which provides a tool forensuring and demonstrating a high stan-dard of environmental responsibility. The

PWMF was certified to the ISO 14001standard in 2001 and more recently hassuccessfully re-certified.

By employing highly qualified staff, carefulplanning, development of technology andequipment and the use of sound operatingprocedures, Ontario Power Generation hasensured that radioactive waste is managedsafely and poses no significant risk toemployees, the public or the environment.

Regulatory AuthorityThe overall regulation of nuclear reactoroperation and waste management inCanada is the responsibility of theCanadian Nuclear Safety Commission(CNSC). The CNSC monitors all activitiesof the PWMF operation to ensure thatthese operations pose no undue risks topeople or the environment.

The PWMF is also monitored on an ongo-ing basis by the International AtomicEnergy Agency.

SecurityEnsuring the security of the nuclear facili-ties at Pickering is of paramount impor-tance. To compliment OPG’s on site securi-ty staff, OPG has entered into anagreement with the Durham RegionalPolice Service to provide specially trainedpersonnel on-site 24 hours a day, seven daysa week.

For more information aboutOntario Power Generation’snuclear waste managementprogram and plans, pleasevisit www.opg.com

Dry storage containers (DSCs) are extremely robust and provide an effective

barrier against radiation. Each DSC is made of reinforced concrete 60 cm (20

inches) thick and is lined inside and outside with 2 cm (half-inch) thick heavy-

gauge steel.

A DSC loaded with used fuel

bundles weighs 73 tons and can

only be moved using a specially

designed transporter which

travels at a speed of only 4

km per hour.

Dry storage is a proven

technology in use around the world.

In Canada, dry storage is used by Hydro

Quebec at Gentilly, New Brunswick Power at

Point Lepreau and Atomic Energy of Canada at

Chalk River and Douglas Point. Ontario Power

Generation has recently placed into service a

dry storage facility at the Bruce site and

the scheduled in-service date of the

Darlington dry storage facility

is 2007.Dry StorageContainer (DSC)