Chapter 9 - Nuclear Wastes and a Waste of Resources

The Issues

Are nuclear wastes uniquely hazardous?

Is safe disposal possible?

In this chapter the issues of nuclear wastes are considered under the following headings:

Factual Summary

While this chapter discusses many aspects of the safety of nuclear wastes the following statements are generally agreed:

There are essentially two hazards associated with the disposal of nuclear wastes: conventional traffic accidents in transporting the wastes to a disposal site and the release of radioactive material that could harm humans and the environment.
The risk from traffic accidents is generally believed to be no greater than that from the transportation of other goods in Canada's transportation systems.
The qualitative risk from the release of radioactive material during transportation or after disposal would be the effects of radiation on humans and the environment discussed in Chapter 7 and Chapter10. It is shown there that these effects are no different in nature than those from the natural radiation to which we are all exposed.
Quantitative estimates of the risks from radioactive releases are that these would be only a small fraction of any risk from natural radiation. A widespread belief to the contrary has been refuted by impartial technical reviews.
Concepts for the disposal of the various categories of radioactive wastes are available: their implementation is considered to be technically feasible.
Attempts to find sites for the disposal of nuclear-fuel and historic wastes have failed so far, allegedly because of the lack of public support. Any further progress is now up to the federal government.

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