MAGS Low Level Waste Storage at AECL's Chalk River Laboratories

Abstract

The recent introduction of Modular Above Ground Storage (MAGS) constitutes a substantial improvement in the way solid Low-Level Radioactive Waste (LLRW) is handled and stored at AECL's Chalk River Laboratories (CRL). The LLRW generally contains items such as lightly contaminated clothing, paper towels, glassware, used equipment and building materials produced at CRL, or received from Canadian hospitals, universities and other waste generators. These materials, previously stored in unlined sand trenches, are now being stored in a dry, monitored and more easily retrievable state in steel containers in MAGS storage buildings. The MAGS project involved design and construction of three elements: a Waste Handling Building, the first of a series of pre-engineered steel storage buildings, and a new Waste Management Area to house the storage buildings and containers of bulk waste. This project was well received by the local municipalities during the public consultation conducted as a part of the licensing process. The MAGS system entered service in 2002 and has operated satisfactorily since then. A second storage building was completed in 2003.