Canadian Perspectives on the Management of Low-Level Radioactive Wastes

Abstract

Canada has adopted the administrative practice of classifying radioactive wastes into one of two categories: high-level, in essence spent reactor fuel, and low-level, which is everything else. However, the "low-level" category is further divided into : "low-level radioactive wastes", namely all forms of radioactive waste other than uranium mill tailings; uranium mill tailings; historic wastes such as those in Port Hope, Ontario or Surrey, B.C. and of recent interest, incidental wastes where radioactivity is naturally present in the raw material. Each of these categories of "low-level" waste have quite distinct physical and chemical characteristics and pose different hazards in the workplace and to the environment. In addition, the ways in which each of these wastes have been managed has evolved over the years in a somewhat independent fashion. At the present time there is no licensed disposal facility for low-level radioactive wastes in Canada. Indeed a recent task force questioned the concept of permanent disposal itself and suggested we look to long-term management as an alternative. In this paper we briefly review the volume and nature of each of the various categories of low-level radioactive waste and the prospects for either permanent disposal or long-term management. In Canada, as elsewhere, the public consultative process appears fundamental to the resolution of these problems.