Summer 2021 update on NPD closure project

As work continues on both the environmental and licensing assessments for the Canadian Nuclear Laboratories’ (CNL’s) proposed closure of the Nuclear Power Demonstration (NPD) Waste Facility in Rolphton, Ontario, the CNSC continues to provide regular updates on the project.

Where are we now

CNL submitted a revised environmental impact statement (EIS) in December 2020, which CNSC staff deemed incomplete in January 2021.

With respect to the licensing assessment, CNL has responded to hundreds of CNSC staff comments as a result of technical assessments, and the process remains ongoing. The most recent technical reviews completed by CNSC staff include key documents on post-closure safety, waste inventory, grout and design.

Next steps

CNL is expected to revise the EIS package and resubmit in fall 2021. If the EIS package is deemed complete, a 90-day CNSC and federal-provincial technical review will follow.

Outreach

In spring 2021, CNSC staff completed a series of webinars that included topics relevant to the NPD project. The series provided a general overview of the CNSC’s licensing process and included topics such as technical assessments, waste classification and characterization, and compliance verification.

Since then, CNSC staff have planned a subsequent webinar series for the fall of 2021, based on participant feedback during the spring webinar series. The fall webinars include topics such as the transportation of radioactive waste, long-term safety of disposal facilities, protection of people and the environment, and the CNSC hearing processes.

For more information on the fall 2021 series and to register, please visit the CNSC’s webinar web page.

What we heard

CNSC staff are working to implement the following actions in response to comments received from the spring webinar participants:

• Recordings of the spring webinar series will be publicly available in the fall of 2021.
• Recordings of the fall webinar series will be publicly available shortly after the live webinar sessions take place.
• CNSC staff will include more specific examples and pictures to better illustrate processes/concepts in future webinar presentations.
• CNSC staff also encouraged participants to visit the CNSC Indigenous engagement web page and consult REGDOC-3.2.2: Indigenous Engagement, for more information on how the CNSC conducts consultation and engagement processes when Indigenous rights or interests could be impacted by a potential project.

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