Radioactive waste

The CNSC's role

The CNSC licenses, regulates and monitors Canada's waste management facilities to ensure they are operated safely.

As with any other nuclear facility, the CNSC imposes rigorous reporting requirements on the operators of nuclear waste management facilities, and verifies that facilities comply with established safety requirements through inspections and audits.

Read about the CNSC approach to compliance verification and enforcement.

The CNSC also coordinates and implements policies, strategies and plans with its federal and international partners to ensure that waste owners and those possessing radioactive waste treat, handle, manage and store it safely and securely.

Radioactive waste facilities and inventory

Radioactive waste facilities

Radioactive waste is generally managed by the owner onsite.

In addition to the facilities identified below, several closed and decommissioned uranium mines are also managed under CNSC licences.

Radioactive waste management facilities in Canada

Site	Location	Licensee	Type of waste	Status
Chalk River Laboratories	Chalk River, ON	CNL	Various reactor and isotope production wastes, contaminated soils, as well as external waste, and used nuclear fuel	Operating/Storage with surveillance
Douglas Point Waste Management Facility	Tiverton, ON	CNL	Decommissioned reactor waste	Storage with surveillance
Gentilly-1 Waste Management Facility	Trois-Rivières, QC	CNL	Decommissioned reactor waste	Storage with surveillance
Gentilly-2 Waste Management Facility	Trois-Rivières, QC	Hydro-Québec	Decommissioned reactor waste	Operating
Nuclear Power Demonstration Waste Management Facility	Chalk River, ON	CNL	Decommissioned reactor waste	Storage with surveillance
Pickering Waste Management Facility	Pickering, ON	Ontario Power Generation	Re-tube reactor waste from refurbishment	Operating
Point Lepreau Waste Management Facility	Saint John, NB	New Brunswick Power	Operational reactor waste, re-tube reactor waste from refurbishment	Operating
Pine Street Extension Temporary Storage Site	Port Hope, ON	CNL	Contaminated soil	Operating
Port Hope Radioactive Waste Management Facility	Port Hope, ON	CNL	Contaminated soil	Storage with surveillance
Bruce Power Development Radioactive Waste Operations Site 1 (RWOS 1)	Tiverton, ON	Ontario Power Generation	Low- and intermediate-level waste from Douglas Point Waste Management Facility and Pickering A	Storage with surveillance
Darlington Waste Management Facility	Darlington, ON	Ontario Power Generation	Used nuclear fuel, waste from refurbishment	Operating
Western Waste Management Facility (WWMF)	Tiverton, ON	Ontario Power Generation	Interim storage of low- and intermediate-level reactor waste generated at Bruce Nuclear Generating Stations A and B, Darlington Nuclear Generating Station and Pickering Nuclear Generating Stations A and B	Operating
Whiteshell Laboratories	Pinawa, MB	CNL	Research reactor waste, used nuclear fuel	Decommissioning
University of Alberta Clover Bar	Edmonton, AB	University of Alberta	Low-level waste from research labs	Operating
University of Toronto	Toronto, ON	University of Toronto	Low-level waste from research labs	Operating
Energy Solutions Canada Corp.	Brampton, ON Brantford, ON	Energy Solutions Canada Corp	Low level waste	Operating
Mississauga Metals and Alloys Inc.	Brantford, ON	Mississauga Metals and Alloys Inc.	Slightly contaminated metals	Storage
Bruce Power Central Maintenance and Laundry Facility	Tiverton, ON	Bruce Power	Contaminated laundry and equipment	Operating
Port Hope Long Term Low-level Radioactive Waste Management Project	Port Hope, ON	CNL	Contaminated soil	Operating
Port Granby Long Term Low-level Radioactive Waste Management Project	Port Hope, ON	CNL	Contaminated soil	Operating

Radioactive waste inventory

Every three years, Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) collects, compiles and analyzes radioactive waste inventory data in Canada.

The updated data is published in the triennial Inventory of radioactive waste in Canada, which provides an overview of the production, accumulation and future projections of radioactive waste in Canada based on Canada’s four waste categories.

The inventory data is reported internationally in Canada’s national reports to the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management. NRCan also provides this data to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s radioactive waste management database, which tracks low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste worldwide.

Reduce, reuse and recycle

One of the key principles in IAEA guidance and in the CNSC's regulatory policy P-290, Managing Radioactive Waste, is that the licensee must minimize the generation of radioactive waste as much as possible.

To do this, licensees must develop a waste management program that helps to reduce the overall volume of radioactive waste requiring long-term management.

They are also expected to investigate and implement new radioactive waste management technologies and techniques as they become available. Some of these strategies include:

• reusing and recycling materials by separating radioactive components from non-radioactive ones
• preventing contamination by restricting the amount of materials in radioactive areas
• assessing technology advances in waste minimization, and implementing improvements to waste-handling facilities that reduce the volume of radioactive waste

In every instance, methods used to reduce, reuse and recycle radioactive waste must ensure that the health and safety of persons and the environment are protected.

Responsibilities for long-term management

While many government departments, agencies, hospitals, universities and industry members are involved in the short-term management of radioactive waste, only a few organizations are involved in long-term management.

The organizations responsible for the long-term management of spent fuel and radioactive waste in Canada are listed in figure 1:

Figure 1: Organizations responsible for the long-term management of used fuel and radioactive waste

Different approaches are used to manage each of Canada's four waste categories.

Used nuclear fuel waste

All used nuclear fuel in Canada is currently held onsite in interim storage facilities and falls under the responsibility of the nuclear power plant operator.

The Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) is responsible for implementing the approach to the long-term management of Canada's used nuclear fuel.

Low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste

Low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste is held onsite or at a CNSC-licensed waste management facility and is the responsibility of the producer.

Historic low-level radioactive waste

Historic, low-level waste consists of soil contaminated with uranium and radium at sites located in the Northwest Territories, British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario. This waste was originally managed in a way that is no longer considered acceptable, but for which the current owner cannot be reasonably held responsible.

The Government of Canada has accepted responsibility for long-term management of this waste, which is managed by the Historic Waste Program Management Office of Canadian Nuclear Laboratories Ltd. (CNL).

Legacy low- and intermediate-level waste

Nuclear legacy liabilities are the result of over 60 years of nuclear research and development conducted first by the National Research Council of Canada (1944 to 1952), then by Atomic Energy of Canada (1952 to 2014), and now CNL, on behalf of the Government of Canada. The liabilities consist of outdated and unused research facilities and buildings, a wide variety of buried and stored radioactive waste and affected lands.

Legacy facilities include the Whiteshell Laboratories, Chalk River Laboratories (CRL) and the three partially decommissioned prototype reactors (Gentilly-1, the Nuclear Power Demonstration reactor and Douglas Point).

Nuclear legacy liabilities also include small quantities of high-level waste, such as prototype and research reactor used fuel, by-products of the production of medical isotopes at the National Research Universal reactor and waste from early fuel reprocessing experiments conducted between the 1940s and 1960s at CRL.

Uranium mine and mill waste

Cameco and AREVA are the only two active uranium mine and mill operators in Canada. They are responsible for the long-term management of uranium mine and mill waste.

The management of shutdown or decommissioned mines and mines, along with their adjacent waste facilities, is either under the responsibility of the former operators or within the purview of the provincial and federal governments.

Transport of radioactive waste

The responsibility for ensuring safe transport of nuclear substances, including radioactive waste, is jointly shared between the CNSC and Transport Canada.

The basic philosophy that has guided the development of CNSC regulations is that safety is incorporated in the design of the transport package.

Package designs are combined with additional regulatory controls including labeling, placarding, quality assurance and maintenance records, and allow for radioactive material to be carried safely in all modes of transport such as road, rail, air and sea.

• Regulating the packaging and transport of nuclear substances in Canada
• Transport FAQs of used nuclear fuel

International responsibilities

As long-term strategies and solutions for the safe management of radioactive waste evolve, the government of Canada must continue to demonstrate how it meets its international obligations under the terms of the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management.

This international agreement aims to ensure worldwide safe management of used nuclear fuel and radioactive waste - an objective that is achieved through the peer-review of a country's radioactive waste management programs.

Every three years, the Government of Canada issues the Canada's National Report for the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management.

The CNSC coordinates the preparation of this national report with other government of Canada departments and the nuclear industry to demonstrate how Canada is meeting its international obligations and to report on its radioactive waste inventories to the IAEA.

The CNSC is responsible for coordinating Canada's responsibilities under the Joint Convention.

Canada's National Reports for the Joint Convention on Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management