Nuclear power in Canada
There are 18 electricity producing nuclear reactors in Canada, and another two undergoing refurbishment. 16 of these are at three sites in Ontario. Quebec and New Brunswick each have one. Six reactors have been decommissioned in Canada. All the plants use CANDU Reactors.
About 15% of the electricity produced in Canada is from these plants. In 1997, 48% of Ontario's, 21% of New Brunswick's and 3% of Quebec's electricity was nuclear-generated. As of December 2005, this proportion in Ontario was 51%.
Nuclear waste management in Canada
The Uranium used in CANDU reactors is still very radioactive when it leaves the reactor, and approximately 95% of its potential generating power remains unused. Both of these issues could be reduced by further refinement of the Uranium, but Canada is unwilling to do so because that would produce weapons-grade material. As a consequence, Canada has approximately 2 million used fuel bundles, equivalent to about 36000 metric tonnes. If the existing reactors are used for the rest of their designed lifespan of approximately 40 years this number will roughly double. The volume of the material is relatively small - equivalent to about two hockey rinks filled to the boards, but it is expected to stay extremely dangerous for hundreds of years and less severely radioactive for about ten thousand years. Designing for containment over this length of time is considered extremely challenging.
Currently the waste is stored where it is generated at the nuclear sites. Talks are ongoing on what to do with the waste in the long term. "Burying it in the ground", similar to the American approach at Yucca mountain is the most popular long term solution, but it has definite disadvantages. First is that it would be an extremely expensive undertaking. Next is that it is difficult to guarantee geological conditions would remain constant over the required length of time - even in the stable Canadian shield, or that the waste will remain trapped within the geological features. Finally is that were the waste put into such a system and sealed off, if future generations discovered an effective way to neutralize or otherwise deal with the waste it would be difficult for them to safely extract it again. As a result some propose a phased solution. First the waste is moved to a remote facility in the Canadian shield where it is kept above ground. After this, public policy permitting, an underground repository would be constructed in the site and the waste loaded into it. The repository would remain "open" - the fuel could be accessed to study the effectiveness of containment at least over the short term. Finally, when and if the public is convinced it is safe to do so and if it is there is still no better solution, the repository would be sealed off "forever".
There has been effort to involve as many effected communities as possible, including aboriginal people on whose land nuclear waste will probably have to travel at some point and may even host such a long term repository.
See also
External links
The Canadian Nuclear FAQ Summary of the Nuclear Waste Management's Organizations findings on dealing with Canada's nuclear waste
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