Final countdown to site selection for Canada’s nuclear waste geologic repository

[Matt Beasley]

Final countdown to site selection for Canada’s nuclear waste geologic repository
By Zoe Braden, Allison Macfarlane, Jan. 16, 2023, Bulletion of the Atomic Scientists

After 15 years of planning, public engagement, and scientific and engineering studies,
Canada stands on the brink of a momentous decision: selecting a final resting spot
for its spent nuclear fuel waste.

Repositories are notoriously difficult to site, but that is not only due to technical
issues. Siting a geologic repository is also difficult because of the challenge of
finding a socially acceptable location. Should Canada successfully select a single
preferred site in the next two years (& obtain licensing approval in the years to come),
it will be one of only a handful of countries to overcome this challenge. As protracted
as its effort may seem, Canada, and the organization in charge of its repository plan—
the Nuclear Waste Management Organization—have progressed further along the path to
permanent nuclear waste disposal than many other countries.

As the US Energy Department embarks on a new consent-based process to find interim
storage sites for the country’s stockpile of spent nuclear fuel, we examine what such
a process has looked like in Canada. When it comes to finding a location for a deep
geologic repository, consent, the process to reach it, and how to express it, the
United States has the opportunity to design a process based on the experience of
countries that have already walked this path.

Globally: Four frontrunners on a long road
-----------------------------------------
Only four countries have managed to successfully site a repository for spent nuclear fuel:
Finland, Sweden, France, and Switzerland.
[ . . . ]
https://thebulletin.org/premium/2023-01/final-countdown-to-site-selection-for-canadas-nuclear-waste-geologic-repository