UNRESTRICTED / ILLIMITÉ National approach and experience on disposal of Intermediate Level Waste - Canada IAEA ILW Disposal workshop Vienna Sept L. Jones

Overview  Introduction  Waste Regulations  Responsibility for Waste  L&ILW Disposal facilities  Ontario Power Generation (OPG)  Deep Geologic Repository (DGR)  Atomic Energy of Canada (AECL)  Geologic Waste Management Facility (GWMF)  Near surface facility  Way Forward UNRESTRICTED / ILLIMITÉ 2

Waste Management Sites UNRESTRICTED / ILLIMITÉ 3

Canadian Regulations  Nuclear Safety & Control Act  Passed March 1997  Came in to force May 2000  Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission  Canada’s nuclear regulatory body  Created under Nuclear Safety & Control Act  Regulatory policy P-290, Managing Radioactive Waste  Regulatory guide G-320, Assessing the Long Term Safety of Radioactive Waste Management UNRESTRICTED / ILLIMITÉ 4

Waste Classification  In Canada, IAEA classification scheme has been incorporated into  CSA standard N292.3 ‘Management of Low – and Intermediate Level Radioactive Waste’  CSA new Standard N292.0 ‘General principles for the management of radioactive waste’  Draft out for consultation  Most existing waste has been classified under a variety of older systems by each waste owner UNRESTRICTED / ILLIMITÉ 5

Waste Responsibility UNRESTRICTED / ILLIMITÉ 6

UNRESTRICTED / ILLIMITÉ 7 OPG DGR  A proposed Deep Geologic Repository at the Bruce nuclear site, Ontario for OPG’s operational L&ILW  At 680 m depth in an argillaceous limestone formation  Currently in regulatory approvals process

OPG DGR Waste Inventory UNRESTRICTED / ILLIMITÉ 8 Compactable waste Incinerator ash Non-processible waste IX resin beads

OPG DGR Postclosure Safety – Relevant Features Geology  Multiple low-permeability rock layers  Stable deep groundwater system, unaffected by prior glaciations  Rocks are old, stable and predictable  Seismically quiet Waste / repository characteristics  90% of wastes are low-level  C-14 is key nuclide at closure;  Most long-lived radioactivity is in corrosion-resistant Zircaloy UNRESTRICTED / ILLIMITÉ 9  Low natural resource potential  Low permeability limits rate of resaturation into repository  Ordovician rock underpressure  Isolated at 680 m depth  Shafts are islanded separate from waste panels  Waste panels are not backfilled, providing space for gases generated  Shafts will be carefully sealed, primarily with bentonite/sand

OPG DGR regulatory submission  Complete submission package:  Public hearings webcast: UNRESTRICTED / ILLIMITÉ 10

AECL GWMF UNRESTRICTED / ILLIMITÉ 11 Mattawa Fault GWMF  Proposed Deep Geologic Repository at the Chalk River Laboratories site, Ontario for CRL’s ILW  A nominally m deep bedrock repository  Feasibility Study completed

AECL Near Surface facility UNRESTRICTED / ILLIMITÉ

AECL Waste 13 Chalk River Laboratories (CRL) Douglas Point (DP) Gentilly-1(G1) UNRESTRICTED / ILLIMITÉ Operational Decommissioning Legacy

Way Forward  OPG  Primary focus to obtain License to construct DGR  DGR Public Hearing underway Sept  AECL  Assess findings of GWMF third party review  Feasibility of Near surface facility  Strategic WAC for disposal facilities UNRESTRICTED / ILLIMITÉ 14

UNRESTRICTED / ILLIMITÉ 15 Thank You