CNSC to hold public hearing on the licence renewal application for the Bruce Power nuclear generating stations
Aerial vew of the Bruce A Nuclear Generating Station
Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) staff are preparing for the upcoming two-part public hearing to consider Bruce Power’s application to renew its power reactor operating licence. The first part of a public hearing will be held on March 14, 2018 in Ottawa. The second part will be held in Kincardine, Ontario, on May 30 and 31, where members of the public, Indigenous groups and other stakeholders will have the opportunity to be heard by the Commission.
Bruce nuclear generating stations
Bruce Power is licensed to operate the Bruce A and Bruce B nuclear generating stations (NGS), located in the Municipality of Kincardine on the eastern shore of Lake Huron, Ontario.
Licence renewal
The proposed licence term is 10 years and will include various major component replacement activities (also known as refurbishment). These activities are scheduled to begin in 2020 and are intended to increase the operational life of the facility.
Compliance verification
The CNSC regulates the nuclear industry in Canada to protect the health, safety and security of Canadians and the environment. One way that this is done is through compliance verification activities.
There are full-time CNSC staff at Bruce A and B who perform inspections to assess safety operations and verify compliance with regulatory requirements and licence conditions. Bruce Power is also subject to ongoing reviews of activities and licensee documentation. In addition, they must report any unusual occurrences and they are required to report on routine performance data.
Compliance activities enable the CNSC to assure Canadians that facilities like Bruce A and B continue to be compliant and perform safely. These activities also provide valuable information for the Commission when it is considering licence applications.
Public participation
The CNSC offered up to $100,000 under its Participant Funding Program (PFP) to help members of the public, Indigenous groups and stakeholders participate in the licence application review and the Commission’s public hearing process for the Bruce NGS licence renewal. After having an independent funding review committee consider the PFP requests, the CNSC approved PFP funding for eight recipients. This money will be used to help the recipients participate in the licence proceedings and provide distinctive and valuable information to the CNSC through informed and topic-specific interventions.
In addition to PFP recipients and their interventions, the Commission will carefully consider all the information presented from the public, Indigenous groups, the licensee and CNSC staff when making its decision. Members of the public who have an interest or expertise that may be useful to the Commission’s evaluation and decision making are invited to comment on Bruce Power’s application. Requests to intervene must be filed with the Commission Secretariat by April 16, 2018.
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