Canada’s plan for managing used nuclear fuel is underway

As the country embraces small modular reactor technology, it has a plan to protect people and the environment – including bodies of water – for generations

As part of a variety of strategies to address climate change – while still meeting Canada’s growing energy needs – the Canadian government and governments around the world are increasingly pursuing new nuclear technologies.

In Canada, nuclear energy has fuelled discovery, powered homes and businesses, and spurred medical innovation for more than 60 years. And in recent years, novel reactor technologies have emerged as a possible solution to help supply power to smaller electrical grids or even remote, off-grid areas.

Small modular reactors (SMRs) are smaller in size and lower in power output than conventional nuclear power and could be purchased and constructed in a flexible way. That means SMRs could come with fewer up-front capital costs, simpler designs and operations.

Like current nuclear technology, SMRs and other emerging nuclear technologies will produce used nuclear fuel, a necessary by-product of nuclear power.

However, the good news is that Canada has a plan for the safe, long-term management of used nuclear fuel, regardless of the source. In 2002, the federal government mandated the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO), a non-profit organization, to engage with Canadians and Indigenous peoples and create a plan to safely manage the country’s used nuclear fuel long term. Today, it is implementing Canada’s plan, which is designed to address the country’s used nuclear fuel now, plus adapt to emerging technologies over time.

The plan – called Adaptive Phased Management (APM) – is designed to ensure that used nuclear fuel is safely contained and isolated for generations to come. It uses a safe, reputable, and adaptive approach that pairs cutting-edge science with Indigenous knowledge. It includes important knowledge about the land and ecology, and a commitment to maintaining effective and meaningful relationships between generations within and between communities.

The plan calls for containing and isolating Canada’s used nuclear fuel in a deep geological repository, roughly 500 metres underground (about as deep as the CN Tower is tall). The repository will be in an area with suitable geology while protecting people and the environment for thousands of years.

Canada’s plan is designed to adapt to changes in technology and the NWMO can build flexibility into repository designs so that the organization can be ready for future decisions. Studies conducted around the world have concluded that high-level waste from reprocessing or recycling used nuclear fuel should also be contained and isolated in a deep geological repository. If Canada pursues used nuclear fuel reprocessing, the NWMO would work with utilities and government to safely manage whatever highlevel waste results from this process. For example, if some used fuel is identified for reprocessing, it could be diverted for that purpose, rather than going into the repository. Any highlevel used nuclear fuel that results after reprocessing could be safely contained and isolated in the repository.

Canada’s plan for a deep geological repository also aligns with international best practices, which has determined that a repository is the safest approach to contain used nuclear fuel, protecting people and the environment for generations. In Finland, for example, a repository is already under construction. Similar projects are also moving forward in Sweden, Switzerland and France.

Since 2010, the NWMO has been engaged in a multi-year process to identify a site for the repository. The process for selecting a site emerged through a two-year dialogue with the public and reflects the ideas, experience and best advice from a broad cross-section of Canadians and Indigenous peoples.

Through this community-driven process, the NWMO has only worked in areas where a community proactively expressed interest in learning about the project and exploring their potential to host it. By 2012, 22 communities had expressed interest, and the organization embarked on a gradual process of narrowing down based on increasingly detailed studies and engagement.

There are currently two sites under consideration in Ontario: the Saugeen Ojibway Nation-South Bruce area in southern Ontario and the Wabigoon Lake Ojibway NationIgnace area in northwestern Ontario. It’s expected that a single, preferred site will be selected in 2024 and repository construction is expected to start in the 2030s, followed by operations in the 2040s.

The host communities for the project will be part of decisionmaking for plans to manage SMRrelated used nuclear fuel in the deep geological repository. By way of example, the NWMO will work with potential host communities – through discussions about partnership agreements – to develop and agree on a process for managing changes to the type or volume of used nuclear fuel to be managed in the deep geological repository.

Regardless of the source of the used nuclear fuel (what has been generated over the last several decades through existing CANDU reactors, and any new used fuel created) safety remains at the core of implementing Canada’s plan, from the repository design to transportation to eventual decommissioning.

As emerging nuclear technologies take shape across the country, Canadians and Indigenous people can be confident that Canada’s plan will adapt and that protecting people and the environment will be the top priority. For more information, visit nwmo.ca.

“Canada’s plan for a deep geological repository also aligns with international best practices, which has determined that a repository is the safest approach to contain used nuclear fuel.