According to the NWMO, the chosen companies will work on facility infrastructure design and engineering, construction planning, mine design, mine construction, nuclear management advising, and nuclear systems and facilities design.
After a nearly 15-year consent-based siting process, on November 28, 2024, the NWMO settled on a single site in northwestern Ontario near the town of Ignace for the geologic repository. Before construction can begin, however, the repository will be subject to a multiyear regulatory review by Canada’s federal government, as well as an independent sovereign regulatory process developed and implemented by Canada’s Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation.
The selected vendors will have the following responsibilities:
Design/engineering: WSP will be responsible for all architectural design and engineering for the project―excluding the engineering and design of the mine and waste rock pile, shafts, headframes, and hoisting system―and the used fuel packaging plant.
Construction: Kiewit will be responsible for all above-ground construction design required to build the deep geologic repository.
Mine design: Hatch will be responsible for all aspects of the project related to underground mine and waste rock management, as well as shaft, headframe, and hoisting systems related to the design and construction of the deep geologic repository.
Mine construction: Thyssen Mining will be responsible for the underground mine construction design of the service, test, and demonstration area, as well as the sinking of three shafts into the repository.
Nuclear management advisor: Kinectrics will be responsible for in-depth nuclear operations management expertise and advice to inform the development and planning of the project, design, oversight and assurance framework and quality assurance programs.
Nuclear systems and facilities: Hatch will be responsible for all aspects of the project related to nuclear facilities and the spent fuel packaging plant.
An integrated approach: To design and build the repository, the NWMO said it is using an integrated and collaborative contracting approach that is ideal for such a unique, long-term, first-of-a-kind project that relies on input from host communities, regulators, and other stakeholders.
Under the organization’s integrated project delivery model, the companies and the NWMO will work as one co-located team. According to the NWMO, this approach encourages trust and open communication among all parties, putting what is best for the project first by enabling collaboration between the NWMO and the selected companies.
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