Site selection for Canada’s Nuclear Waste Geological Repository – Canada stands on the brink of a momentous decision: selecting a final resting spot for its spent nuclear fuel waste
Canada: An impending decision despite roadblocks
Canada generates around 15 percent of its electricity generation from 19 nuclear reactors at four power plants—all of which are of the CANDU (Canada Deuterium Uranium) design, a heavy-water reactor that uses natural (unenriched) uranium fuel (National Energy Board 2018). Canada’s four nuclear power plants, three of which are located in Ontario and one in New Brunswick, have produced a stockpile of approximately 3.1 million spent nuclear fuel bundles that increases at a rate of about 90,000 bundles per year (Gobien and Ion 2021). If all the currently operating plants live out their licensed lifetimes, Canada estimates that it will have to dispose of 5.5 million bundles.
