Adaption: Review, Adjust and Validate Plans
NWMO will continually review, adjust and validate plans against factors such as advances in technical learning, evolving societal expectations and values, and changes in energy and environmental policies.
A fundamental tenet of Adaptive Phased Management is the ongoing incorporation of new learning and knowledge to guide decision-making. The NWMO is committed to re-evaluating decisions where warranted, maintaining the option to change course and being prepared to act on new knowledge. Developments throughout the implementation of Adaptive Phased Management may pose technical and ethical challenges. How the NWMO considers, discusses and responds to these challenges will be critical to the success of Adaptive Phased Management.
The NWMO will report regularly on its progress in implementing Adaptive Phased Management, especially in response to the advice of Canadians and the changing external environment.
Recent developments in environmental and energy policies are particularly relevant to the implementation of Adaptive Phased Management. The amounts and characteristics of nuclear fuel waste to be managed are related to potential new nuclear reactor refurbishment projects and new nuclear generation plants. While decisions about Canada's nuclear energy generation options will not be made by the NWMO, we must recognize the potential implications of these decisions and put in place a process for ongoing monitoring, review and broad discussion so that our implementation path is adjusted as may be required.
In this section the NWMO will:
• Publish an annual update on current and future potential inventories of used fuel volumes and types;
• Report on the implications of used fuel from new and refurbished nuclear generation plants in the implementation of Adaptive Phased Management, including the technical design implications of potential changes in volumes and types of used fuel to be managed; and
• Publish its updated estimate of the financial cost implications of potential future scenarios of varying volumes of used fuel to be managed.
Please check this webpage regularly for updates to our work and planning assumptions.
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