A $24 Billion Plan for Dealing with Canada's Nuclear Waste

"In an illustrative description of how Adaptive Phased Management could unfold, the NWMO suggests a period of approximately 30 years when used fuel would remain safely managed at nuclear reactor sites. During this initial phase, working collaboratively with interested citizens, the goals would be to site a centralized facility and build an underground research laboratory to confirm suitability of the site and the technology for a deep repository. A decision would also be taken on whether to build an interim shallow underground storage facility at the same site.

"Depending on societal direction, used fuel could be moved to the central site for interim storage during the second thirty-year phase. Throughout this period the program of research and demonstration would continue.

"Used fuel would be placed in the repository in phase three, expected to begin around year sixty. Future generations would decide in phase three whether and when to close the repository, and what kind of post-closure monitoring would be required."

Thanks to Michael Dudley