An Assessment Method for Long-term Management of Canada's Used Nuclear Fuel

Abstract

The nine-member Assessment Team, assembled by the Nuclear Waste Management Organization in early 2004, reported the results of its work in the NWMO document, 'Assessing the Options: Future Management of Used Nuclear Fuel in Canada (June 2004).'1 The team was responding to the challenge to develop a rigorous and credible evaluation of multiple options, and one which would also satisfy a complex set of objectives: a solution that would be 'socially acceptable, technically sound, environmentally responsible, and economically feasible.' This paper describes the special challenges faced by the Assessment Team in seeking to respond to this multifaceted assignment. I open by discussing the implications of the institutional and legal framework inherited by the NWMO from the Seaborn Panel (including the government's response to the Seaborn Panel report), which in effect set a new standard for the practice of risk management decision making in Canada. I then review the highlights of the Assessment Team's report, including its chosen method, namely, multi-objective utility analysis. I conclude with a discussion of the longerterm implications of the assessment work done to date for the next stages in the process of finding a credible solution for the long-term management of used nuclear fuel in Canada.