Canadian Regulatory Framework for Waste Management and Decommissioning - 19373
- Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (Canada)
The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) licences, monitors and inspects all nuclear facilities and activities in Canada, including radioactive waste management and decommissioning, in order to assure the protection of the health, safety and security of persons and the environment. This paper will discuss the Canadian regulatory framework as it applies to all radioactive waste management and decommissioning of nuclear facilities. The Government of Canada's Radioactive Waste Policy Framework specifies that the Government of Canada is responsible for developing policy and for regulating and overseeing radioactive waste producers and owners and that, in accordance with the 'polluter pays' principle, waste owners are responsible for the funding, organization, management and operation of the facilities required to safely manage their wastes over the short- and long-terms. The CNSC's regulatory approach for radioactive waste stems from the Nuclear Safety and Control Act (NSCA) and identifies the need for long-term management of radioactive and hazardous waste arising from licensed activities and indicates that, when making regulatory decisions about the management of radioactive waste, the CNSC will seek to achieve its objectives by considering certain key principles in the context of the facts and circumstances of each case. These principles cover the concepts of waste minimization in all phases of a facility's life cycle, hazard assessment, future impacts of the waste, and transborder effects. As a facility life cycle regulator, all nuclear facilities are required to keep decommissioning plans up to date throughout the life cycle of a licensed activity. In addition, the CNSC requires that all licensees implement financial guarantees to cover the cost of decommissioning work resulting from the licensed activities. A preliminary decommissioning plan must be filed with the CNSC as early as possible in the life cycle of the activity or facility and must be reviewed and updated at a minimum every five years. Under the CNSC's non-prescriptive approach to regulation, the applicant proposes a waste management or decommissioning approach, supported by scientifically defensible benchmarks. The CNSC then assesses the proposal against existing regulatory requirements to ensure the health, safety and security of the public and the protection of the environment. (authors)
- Research Organization:
- WM Symposia, Inc., PO Box 27646, 85285-7646 Tempe, AZ (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 23003097
- Report Number(s):
- INIS-US-21-WM-19373; TRN: US21V1213043430
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: WM2019: 45. Annual Waste Management Conference, Phoenix, AZ (United States), 3-7 Mar 2019; Other Information: Country of input: France; 24 refs.; available online at: https://www.xcdsystem.com/wmsym/2019/index.html
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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