The Nuclear Waste Management Organization is responsible for the implementation of Adaptive Phased Management (APM), the federally-approved plan for the safe long-term management of Canada’s used nuclear fuel. Under this plan, used nuclear fuel will ultimately be placed within a deep geological repository in a suitable host rock formation.

Operational safety is an important aspect of concept development. This paper describes the methodology used and results obtained from a preliminary hazard identification assessment performed for the APM conceptual repository design. Failure Modes and Effects Analysis has been used to identify potentially hazardous events and accident scenarios that could result in an increase in radiological consequence during the operating period. Internal and external initiating events were considered.

Based on this preliminary work, twenty-three Anticipated Operational Occurrences, six Design Basis Accidents, and four Beyond Design Basis Accidents have been identified, with most of these events resulting in extended outage periods at the Used Fuel Packaging Plant.