AECL report: Canadian Shield safe for nuclear waste burial

Nuclear waste can be safely buried in the Canadian Shield, according to a federal environmental impact statement.

The report, based on 15 years of research by Atomic Energy of Canada (AECL), says spent nuclear fuel can be placed in containers and buried up to a kilometre below the surface in stable rock formations known as plutons, Canadian Press reports.

Plutons exist in many areas of the Shield, but most research to date has been carried out in eastern Manitoba.

“We can now look at the next phase of this, and that is looking for a site,” says Lawrence Shewchuk, a spokesman for AECL’s research laboratories in Pinawa, Man.

The impact statement is now in the hands of the Federal Environmental Assessment Review Office, which will oversee a 9-month review of the study. The review allows the public, government agencies and technical specialists to examine the statement for accuracy.

After the nine months are up, a federal panel will decide whether there is enough information to hold public hearings next fall.

Most of Canada’s spent nuclear fuel is now in underwater storage, not meant to be permanent. There is enough of the material to fill a hockey rink to a depth of two metres.

Environmental groups fear that if AECL’s proposal goes ahead, Canada could become a depository for nuclear waste from other countries, particularly the U.S.

Critics say communities, along such transportation routes, could be vulnerable to nuclear spills.