Darlington Refurb uses state-of-the-art waste facility

The mid-life refurbishment of OPG’s Darlington Nuclear Generating Station will provide Ontarians with another 30 years of low-cost, carbon-free energy.

While the Darlington Refurbishment works toward this clean energy benefit, we’re focused on the completion of a major phase in the project: The safe removal of reactor components, which must then be transported, processed and stored with care.

​Safely transporting, processing and storing waste is an important part of our day-to-day operations, but for the Darlington Refurbishment project it was also an opportunity to create lasting and safe waste solutions.

“Stewardship of our waste requires us to carefully manage the materials while at the same time putting in place programs that can provide peace of mind,” says Lise Morton, Vice President, Nuclear Waste Management with OPG. “A lot of thoughtful planning went into determining how best to transport and store the used materials, as well as how to reduce our environmental footprint.”

How did we do it? By designing and constructing a state-of-the-art processing facility known as the Re-tube and Waste Processing Building (RWPB). At this facility, removed reactor components are separated into two streams: either low or intermediate level waste. They are then volume reduced, where possible, to decrease the duration of long-term storage needs.

Watch this video to learn more about how the waste is volume reduced and stored: