The NWMO has a long tradition of not only supporting leading researchers in nuclear waste management, but also helping promising graduate students launch their own careers in the field. Two of those students, Ms. Roshanak Pashang and Dr. Wendy Stone, recently completed their degrees in April. Dr. Stone earned her PhD; Ms. Pashang, her MSc.

Both studied in Ryerson University’s Department of Chemistry and Biology under Prof. Gideon Wolfaardt. Their studies were jointly funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the NWMO.

Dr. Jennifer McKelvie, a geoscientist at the NWMO and an adjunct professor at Ryerson University, was on the committee supervising the two students’ theses. “We are really excited by their work because each addresses the sorts of microbial processes we need to be aware of and plan for in a deep geological repository,” she notes.

She adds, “It is also an investment in our future. With a long-term project like ours, it is incredibly important to encourage talented young scientists to enter the field. It is the innovative work of scientists like Dr. Stone and Ms. Pashang that will help ensure that Canada’s used nuclear fuel will continue to be managed according to the highest scientific standards in the decades to come.”