Douglas Point's reactor (image via CNL.ca)
An update was provided this week regarding the decommissioning process for Douglas Point Nuclear Generating Station.
Kincardine Council heard from members of Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, who shared that the facility is officially moving from the storage and surveillance phase, which started in the 1980s, and into the final decommissioning phase.
Douglas Point was Canada’s first full-scale nuclear power plant. It operated from 1967-1984.
Crews are working to remove the non-nuclear buildings for the facility, before eventually dismantling the old reactor and removing used nuclear fuel.
CNL communications officer Margo Thompson explains that “It’s a large industrial project, producing many different kinds of waste. Most of it isn’t actually waste; it can be recycled or reused. A lot of it is actually conventional waste, but we have hazardous waste like asbestos and lead.”
The goal is to have all buildings for the facility, and nuclear waste completely removed by 2070 at the latest.
In 2021, as a part of the hazard reduction work, four shipments of nuclear waste were sent to Chalk River for storage or off-site processing.
Facility Authority Julie Therrien says that they’re working to remove the buildings where offices used to be located, but still need to proceed with caution because of the asbestos within the buildings’ materials.
“[We’re] establishing a perimeter trench all around those buildings to confirm there’s no more power or water, and then we can go and cut all of the internal wires and pipes in those buildings which is our next step because they’re covered in asbestos.”
Two shipments of designated hazardous waste, such as asbestos, were sent to licensed landfills last year.