Radiological Impact on the Public of Transportation for the Canadian Nuclear Fuel Waste Management Program

In 1978 the Federal Government of Canada agreed on a joint program with the Province of Ontario to assure the safe and permanent disposal of used fuel waste from power reactors . Disposal system concept assessment documents prepared by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) and Ontario Hydro will be submitted in early 1991 for review by an Environmental Assessment Panel, under the Federal Environmental Assessment Review Process. This paper describes the radiological assessment of the transportation component of the disposal system, considering potential impacts on the public in both normal and accident conditions. Data were developed for three alternative reference repository locations, and for three alternative modes of transport. The Used Fuel Transportation Assessment does not aim to compare the alternatives, but rather to assess if used fuel transportation can be carried out acceptably for each of the cases.