Environment and safety

Corrosion Research Project With Multiple Universities Receives Ontario Funding

A group of people looks at machinery

Scientists from the NWMO and Western University visit a national research facility where coatings are made and applied to prototype used fuel containers.

May 1, 2018

Toronto

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A group of people looks at machinery

Scientists from the NWMO and Western University visit a national research facility where coatings are made and applied to prototype used fuel containers.

The Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) has been instrumental with four Ontario universities in winning a research grant to further study the long-term stability of used fuel containers for deep underground applications.

The new $4-million five-year research excellence grant from the Ontario Research Fund builds on funding that is already in place from the NWMO and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada for this multidisciplinary initiative.

“This project will enhance our understanding of the physical and chemical interactions of the containers with corrosive species, groundwater, clay, and micro-organisms,” says Dr. Mehran Behazin, an associate scientist in corrosion and microbiology at the NWMO. “This is crucial to demonstrating the long-term safety of the deep geological repository.”

The project brings together nine academic researchers with diverse expertise – in metallurgy, electrochemistry, corrosion science, thermodynamics, hydrogeology, mineralogy, microbiology, synthetic chemistry, and computer modelling – to understand the complex interactions that will take place in the repository over hundreds of thousands of years. It will also enable improved communication between research groups, and provide training for emerging scientists.

The project is led by Prof. Jamie Noël from Western University, who will work collaboratively with researchers from the University of Toronto, University of Waterloo and York University.

About the NWMO

The Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) is a not-for-profit organization tasked with the safe, long-term management of Canada’s used nuclear fuel inside a deep geological repository, in a manner that protects people and the environment for generations to come.

Founded in 2002, the NWMO has been guided for more than 20 years by a dedicated team of world-class scientists, engineers and Indigenous Knowledge Holders that are developing innovative and collaborative solutions for nuclear waste management. Canada’s plan will only proceed in an area with informed and willing hosts, where the municipality, First Nation and Métis communities, and others in the area are working together to implement it. The NWMO plans to select a site in 2024, and two areas remain in our site selection process: the Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation-Ignace area in northwestern Ontario and the Saugeen Ojibway Nation-South Bruce area in southern Ontario.

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