| Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management
- Fact Sheet
Canada’s Radioactive Waste Management Program
Low-level
radioactive waste
Low-level wastes are stored at the Radioactive Waste Operations
Site (RWOS) at the Bruce reactor in Ontario. Storage from small
users, such as laboratories, will be placed in the near future in
an underground, near-surface facility at Chalk River Laboratories
in Ontario. Wastes from uranium refining operations may be disposed
of at a potential site located in southern Ontario called Deep River.
Spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste
Spent nuclear fuel is stored in reactor pools at nuclear power
plants for about six years, then put into on-site dry storage in
concrete structures.
Reprocessing spent nuclear fuel
Spent nuclear fuel is not currently reprocessed nor are there plans
for reprocessing in the future.
Transporting radioactive waste
There has been limited spent nuclear fuel transport in Canada.
Transportation casks have been designed for truck and rail transport.
Canada’s regulatory body granted approval for truck casks, which
may be used for barge shipments as well.
Deep geologic disposal plans
In March 1998, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA)
Panel reported to the Canadian government that the safety of a geologic
disposal concept had been adequately demonstrated. It concluded
that the deep geologic disposal of high-level radioactive waste
(spent nuclear fuel or solidified nuclear waste) 500 to 1000 meters
(1,640 to 3,280 feet) deep within the stable plutonic rock of the
Canadian shield constituted a safe and compliant passive long-term
storage option.
The CEAA Panel also recommended the creation of an independent
waste management organization (WMO). The WMO, yet to be created,
will implement the study of long-term spent nuclear fuel/high-level
radioactive waste management options. In addition to deep geological
disposal, the WMO will examine two other long-term options for radioactive
waste management: on-site storage at reactors and above or below
ground centralized storage. Following the conclusion of its study,
the WMO will recommend to the Canadian government its preferred
approach for long-term nuclear waste management.
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management
Yucca Mountain Project
1551 Hillshire Drive
Las Vegas, NV 89134
1-800-225-6972
http://www.ocrwm.doe.gov
DOE/YMP-0408
June 2001 |