Status of the Canadian nuclear fuel waste management programme

Canada has a well advanced programme to manage nuclear fuel waste. Used fuel is currently stored in water filled bays at the reactor sites and facilities meet storage needs until the mid-1990s. New water filled bay storage capacity can readily be added. As an alternative, dry storage technologies are being developed. Technology for large scale used fuel transportation is also being developed. Storage can continue for many decades, allowing adequate time for an integrated nuclear fuel waste disposal system to be established. Permanent disposal of nuclear fuel waste deep in plutonic rock of the Canadian Shield is being assessed. Three research areas in the Canadian Shield have been extensively characterized, both geologically and hydrogeologically. An underground research laboratory is at an advanced stage of construction in a previously undisturbed granite batholith. (author). 21 refs, 7 figs