Canada will not be taking radioactive waste from other countries after it joined an international nuclear power partnership, Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn says.

Opposition parties had expressed fears Canada's membership in the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership — which proposed the idea of returning spent nuclear fuel to the country of origin for disposal — could make Canada a dumping ground for the waste.

Canada is the world's top uranium exporter, meaning adoption of the proposal could have led to it being responsible for disposing of a sizable amount of waste.

But in an interview with CBC News on Friday, Lunn said that a condition of signing up for the partnership was that Canada will not take nuclear waste.

Instead, the minister said, Canada will share research and technology into how other countries can best deal with their own waste.

Opposition parties had lobbed criticism at the government following its announcement Thursday that Canada has joined the partnership.

"The government has tried to slip this one under the wire," New Democratic environment critic Nathan Cullen said following the announcement.

During question period in the Commons on Friday, NDP Leader Jack Layton continued the attack on the decision, saying it should be put to a vote in the House because nuclear energy is not only expensive but dangerous.

"National security should be a key part of this discussion," Layton said.

The nuclear energy partnership proposes the expansion of nuclear energy worldwide through the use of an unproven breed of reactors that burn nuclear waste — a practice effectively banned in Canada and the United States since the 1970s because of security reasons.

The natural resources minister, however, responded that it is "great news" that Canada has joined the group, saying the country must be at the table for international nuclear talks.

"Canada should be a player. Canada can show leadership and we should show other countries," Lunn said.

Seventeen other countries are members, including China, France, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States.

The partnership has many critics, both in the environmental movement and scientific circles.

On Thursday, the federal government also announced a review of Atomic Energy Canada Limited, the Crown corporation that builds and sells nuclear reactors.

"It is time to consider whether the existing structure of AECL is appropriate to the changing marketplace," Lunn said in a news release.

Opposition critics said that was a sign that AECL could be privatized.

With files from the Canadian Press