Douglas Point Prototype Reactor

The facility, consisting of the permanently shut down, partially decommissioned prototype CANDU® reactor and its associated structures and ancillaries, is located on the Bruce Power site (which is owned by the provincial Crown corporation, Ontario Power Generation) in Bruce County on the east shore of Lake Huron in the Province of Ontario.

The Douglas Point Nuclear Generating Station played an important part in Canada’s history. It was the first commercial scale Canada Deuterium Uranium (CANDU®) reactor. The Nuclear Power Demonstration (NPD) reactor proved the CANDU® concept in 1962 and the 200 megawatt Douglas Point plant, ten times larger than NPD, demonstrated that a CANDU® nuclear power plant could be scaled up for commercial energy generation. The advances made at Douglas Point provided the province of Ontario with reliable energy supply and contributed to the success of larger CANDU® plants in Canada and internationally.

The Douglas Point Waste Facility is owned by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL), a federal Crown corporation. Douglas Point was the first nuclear facility in the region. Now, the site is surrounded by the Bruce Power site, the largest operating nuclear generating facility in the world.

Decommissioning Douglas Point is an environmental remediation project conducted by CNL on behalf of and funded by AECL, the owner. CNL has the responsibility to manage all of AECL’s sites and assets through a government-owned, contractor-operated (GoCo) model.

All waste from decommissioning activities for the Douglas Point facility is carefully categorized or “characterized” and each type of waste will be managed in an appropriate way according to waste type.

Radioactive waste (i.e. contaminated soil, contaminated demolition debris, used fuel):

Low and intermediate-level radioactive waste from the decommissioning of the Douglas Point facility will be packaged in licensed containers and safely transported to the Chalk River Laboratories site.

Given the stringent safety, security and licensing requirements that govern waste facilities, it makes sense to consolidate all radioactive waste in one facility, at the Chalk River Laboratories site.

As for the used fuel, in Canada, the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) has the mandate for designing and implementing the plan for the safe, long-term management of spent nuclear fuel. All used fuel from the Douglas Point Waste Facility is destined for the repository that the NWMO is responsible for planning and building.

Non-radioactive waste (i.e. demolition debris from the administration building):

Clean waste, which is waste that is characterized and found to be not radioactive, will be recycled where possible and where not, sent to licensed local landfills.

Clean recyclable waste such as, scrap metal and cardboard, is sent off site to recycling facilities.

Designated substances (i.e. asbestos, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), lead, asphalt roofing material, hydrocarbons and other kinds of hazardous waste often found on industrial sites):

Designated substances are sent off site to special facilities that are licensed to receive and handle this type of industrial waste.

Presently, CNL is progressing with the final decommissioning of the Douglas Point Waste Facility. The goal is to fully remove the facility from the site in a way that is informed by Indigenous peoples and the public, and continues to reduce and minimize the risks to the health, safety and security of people and the environment.

Following a public hearing in November 2020, in 2021 the CNSC announced its decision to amend the waste facility decommissioning licence for the Douglas Point Waste Facility, allowing CNL to begin final decommissioning activities, including the decommissioning and dismantlement of certain facilities and structures at the facility. .The removal of the reactor building and the spent fuel canisters is not scheduled to occur until after 2030.

Input from local communities, First Nations and Métis is essential to planning and implementing the decommissioning project.