Canada’s Nuclear Waste Management Organization has been charged by the federal government to develop a plan for dealing with the country’s supply of low- and intermediate-level waste.
The Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) is a non-profit established in 2002 in accordance with Canada’s Nuclear Fuel Waste Act to find a solution for the permanent storage of the country’s high-level radioactive waste.
Now, in addition to that, the NWMO will work to form an “integrated radioactive waste management strategy”, according to a press release from the organization. Seamus O’Regan, Canada’s minister of natural resources, requested the plan. The new strategy is supposed to include Canda’s low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste, currently kept in interim storage sites.
The strategy should include: the current size of Canada’s radioactive waste inventory; the future volumes of the country’s radioactive waste; an update on plans for a permanent facility; “conceptual approaches” for handling the country’s waste supply; and logistical considerations for such a facility, O’Regan said in a letter dated Nov. 13.
“Our current approach puts the onus on waste producers and owners to develop plans for the safe management of their wastes, including over the long term,” O’Regan wrote. “While the strategy must be defined by waste producers and owners who have the best understanding of their wastes and their priorities, it too must be informed by dialogue with stakeholders and Canadians.”
The planned waste-management strategy “is separate and distinct from the NWMO’s ongoing operations to implement, collaboratively with Canadians and Indigenous people, Canada’s plan for the safe, long-term management of used nuclear fuel,” spokesman Bradley Hammond said in an email.
Hammond didn’t respond to questions about whether the organization plans to contract with U.S. companies for waste storage.
Canada plans to store its spent fuel in one of the two places identified by the NWMO after years of deliberation: South Bruce in Ontario and the Township of Ignace, also in Ontario.
NWMO has started preparing both sites for borehole drilling, scheduled to begin in 2021, to test their surface geology. Both sites are undergoing feasibility studies, and the chosen location will notionally be announced in 2023.
