Western key to solving million-year waste dilemma

Most of us strive to leave a legacy for a few generations. A team led by Chemistry Professor Jamie Noël, however, is working towards a million-year legacy – with the highest possible stakes.

Noël is the principal investigator in a project analyzing how to build corrosion-proof, copper-clad canisters in which to store Canada’s radioactive nuclear energy waste.

“These containers, we want them to last forever,” said Noël, an award-winning Distinguished Research Professor. “We are considering anything and everything that could be a source of corrosion for these canisters.”

The science and process of permanently storing Canada’s nearly 3 million spent fuel bundles – plus the 90,000 more generated each year ­– is one of the country’s greatest environmental challenges.

The full article is available from Western News.