Fourth Review Meeting of the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management, Canada's Responses to Questions to its Fourth National Report

The Department of Energy, Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, today proposes to amend its General Guidelines for the Recommendation of Sites for Nuclear Waste Repositories. The DOE is proposing these amendments to clarify and focus the Guidelines to be used in evaluating the suitability of the Yucca Mountain site in Nevada for development as a repository.

Council Directive 2011/70/EURATOM of 19 July 2011 establishing a Community framework for the responsible and safe management of spent fuel and radioactive waste

The Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP), is an initiative managed by the United States Department of Energy (DOE) to work with other nations to develop and deploy advanced nuclear recycling and reactor technologies.

On April 16, 2012, the Corporation of the Township of Huron-Kinloss expressed interest in learning more about the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) site selection process to find an informed and willing community to host a deep geological repository for Canada’s used nuclear fuel (NWMO, 2010). This report summarizes the findings of an initial screening, conducted by AECOM, to evaluate the potential suitability of the Township of Huron-Kinloss against five screening criteria using readily available information.

On January 9, 2012 the Corporation of the Municipality of Brockton expressed interest in learning more about the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) site selection process to find an informed and willing community to host a deep geological repository for Canada’s used nuclear fuel (NWMO, 2010). This report summarizes the findings of an initial screening, conducted by AECOM., to evaluate the potential suitability of the Municipality of Brockton against five initial screening criteria using readily available information.

The Department of Energy (DOE) is studying a site at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, for a permanent underground repository for highly radioactive spent fuel from nuclear reactors, but delays have pushed back the facility’s opening date to 2010 at the earliest. In the meantime, spent fuel is accumulating at U.S. nuclear plant sites at the rate of about 2,000 metric tons per year. Major options for managing those growing quantities of nuclear spent fuel include continued storage at reactors, construction of a DOE interim storage site near Yucca Mountain, and licensing of private storage facilities.

The U.S. Geological Survey's program for geologic and hydrologic evaluation of physiographic provinces to identify areas potentially suitable for locating repository sites for disposal of high-level nuclear wastes was announced to the Governors of the eight States in the Basin and Range Province on May 6, 1981. Representatives of Arizona, California, Idaho, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, and Utah, were invited to cooperate with the Federal Government in the evaluation process.

This paper describes the evolution of the process for assessing the hazards of a geologic disposal system for radioactive waste and, similarly, nuclear power reactors, and the relationship of this process with other assessments of risk, particularly assessments of hazards from manufactured carcinogenic chemicals during use and disposal. This perspective reviews the common history of scientific concepts for risk assessment developed to the 1950s.

The first world wide review of the geological problems in radioactive waste isolation was published by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in 1991. This review was a compilation of reports that had been submitted to a workshop held in conjunction with the 28th International Geological Congress that took place July 9-19,1989 in Washington, D.C.

This is Canada's Second National Report and it demonstrates how Canada continues to meet its obligations under the terms of the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management. The main aspect addressed in this report is the progress on initiatives for the long-term management of spent fuel and radioactive waste in Canada. This report also includes information on Canada's systematic monitoring programs and their implementation and addresses specific topics raised at the First Review Meeting.

In this letter, Governor Perry requests that the Texas legislature develop a solution for the management of spent nuclear fuel within Texas, since current federal plans for spent nuclear fuel disposal are not credible. The report by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, which summarizes spent nuclear fuel management in the US, is attached to the letter as a reference resource.

In this report, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality provides a concise history of spent nuclear fuel management in the US, briefly discussing disposal and transportation but focusing mostly on storage. The current status of NRC efforts to evaluate issues related to storage are mentioned. The report also describes the waste storage situation at the relatively young 4 nuclear reactor units at 2 sites in Texas and the two small research reactors at the University of Texas and Texas A&M.

Governor Bryant sent a letter to Pete Lyons, Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy regarding the state hosting a geologic repository for spent nuclear fuel as an alternative to the Yucca Mountain repository . Although some communities may have expressed interest to DOE, Governor Bryant is opposed to hosting a repository and asks DOE to consider any state other than Mississippi.

Pete Lyons, Assistant Secretary of Nuclear Energy DOE, responds to the letter by Governor Bryant of Mississippi by noting that a consent-based approach to siting will require achieving acceptance at multiple levels of government: local, state and tribal. Consultation and cooperation will be required to successfully site a disposal system. DOE will be mindful of Governor Bryant's opposition to siting a disposal system in Mississippi.

Texas Governor Rick Perry wrote a letter to the Texas Congressional delegation regarding new solutions to the long term handling of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste.