Decommissioning of AECL Whiteshell Laboratories: Progress From First Five Years of Legacy Funding

Abstract

In 2006, the Government of Canada adopted a new long-term strategy to deal with the nuclear legacy liabilities and initiated a five-year start-up phase. The objective is to safely and cost-effectively reduce these liabilities, and associated risks, based on sound waste management and environmental principles in the best interests of Canadians. AECL's Whiteshell Laboratories is part of the long-term strategy and decommissioning activities are underway. Several redundant non-nuclear buildings have been removed/decommissioned, and redundant nuclear facilities (hot cell facilities, radiochemical laboratories) are being decontaminated and prepared for demolition. This paper describes the progress in the first five-year funding period (2006 April to 2011 March).