Developing a Siting Strategy for a Nuclear Fuel Waste Management Facility

Although different policies for radioactive waste management, including nuclear fuel waste (NFW), have developed in different countries, the basic challenge is the same everywhere: finding a method and a place for isolating the radioactive waste from the biosphere. During the last decade, this issue has moved to a new phase where responsible authorities and companies are now facing the task of implementing waste disposal or management strategies. A number of countries (e.g. Canada, Finland, Sweden) are approaching or are in the stage of contemplating or implementing a management approach to isolate NFW. Concurrently, other countries (e.g. Germany, Great Britain, Switzerland) are seeking acceptable places for the disposal of low and intermediate levels of radwaste, as well as interim storage of NFW. Despite the readiness to make use of technological achievements in order to construct the best available facilities and the creation of incentive packages attached to proposed facilities, various forms of local opposition constitute one of the greatest obstacles to the establishment of nuclear waste facilities. While a great deal of attention both in the policy arena and in the academic literature is focused on siting controversies, it is imperative to note that increasingly, communities are coming forward to volunteer as hosts to radioactive waste facilities. Benefits to these communities are tangible and sought after. The Municipalities of Oskarshamn and Osthammar in Sweden are good examples of communities vying to host a deep geological repository for spent nuclear fuel. In Canada, the Municipality of Kincardine has emerged as a willing host to a proposed geologic repository for low and intermediate level nuclear waste. The town of Carlsbad, New Mexico is host to a repository for transuranic nuclear waste. This paper provides a review of elements of facility siting processes by reviewing the current literature produced by social scientists. The goal is to work towards developing a framework within which a facility siting process can be established that is applicable to nuclear fuel waste management in Canada.