Canada’s New Nuclear Waste Act

The Nuclear Fuel Waste (NEW) Act is a stand-alone piece of legislation with some 30 articles and without regulations. The Act deals essentially with social, financial and socioeconomic considerations of the long-term management of nuclear fuel waste. It complements the health, environment, safety and security requirements under the Nuclear Safety and Control, Act. The NFW Act provides for 1) the nuclear industry to set up a waste management organization to manage the full long-term waste management activities and to establish trust funds to finance long-term waste management responsibilities; and 2) the waste management organization to submit, for government decision, long-term waste management options within three years of coming into force.