| Canadian organisation submits recommendation on waste management | | Print | |
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In it's report "Choosing a Way Forward: The Future Management of Canada's Used Nuclear Fuel!, published on 24 May, NWMO, Canada's Nuclear Waste Management Organisation has recommended that the country adopt an "adaptive phased" policy on long term radioactive waste management of spent fuel. The committee has suggested implementation over three phases which will last for up to 300 years. NWMO reported that an underground repository with an interim shallow underground storage facility on the same site would be the most likely solution, with an adaptable approach which evaluates options at every stage of the provess. The waste would remain retrievable and the facility would probably be installed in the crystalline rock of the Canadian Shield, an area covering some eight million square kilometres of northern Canada. Of the three suggested phases, the first phase would last around 30 years, during which spent fuel would be stored securely at the reactor sites while a site for the final repository is chosen and geological suitability is established in an underground laboratory. The three-phase process is likely to cost approximately 24.4 billion Canadian dollars (19 billion US dollars). Canadian nuclear energy producers have already begun contributing to trust funds to ensure money will be available for whichever long-term nuclear waste management approach is chosen. |
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