Update on the Nuclear Power Demonstration closure project

Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) has proposed to fully decommission the Nuclear Power Demonstration (NPD) waste facility in Rolphton, Ontario. The proposed project is located in the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg people.

We will provide regular updates on the project as work continues on the environmental assessment (EA) and licensing technical review.

Where we are now

Our technical assessments of CNL’s proposal are ongoing, and CNL continues to develop and revise documents supporting its licence application to address our comments.

In relation to the EA, CNL continues to revise the draft environmental impact statement (EIS) and respond to requests for information from federal and provincial reviewers. Once received, the EIS will be assessed by CNSC staff to determine if it is sufficiently complete to proceed to a detailed technical review.

If we deem the information submitted by CNL to be complete for the purposes of the EA and licensing requirements, our staff will develop an EA report and a licensing Commission member document (CMD). The EA report and CMD will be publicly posted in advance of public Commission hearings, and will summarize our staff’s technical assessments, findings and recommendations to the Commission for decisions on the EA and licence application. If we deem the information submitted by CNL to be incomplete, CNL will need to revise its EIS and supporting documentation before resubmitting it to the CNSC.

Outreach

We conducted several webinars on CNL’s in situ decommissioning projects and related information in 2021 and early 2022. Recordings of these webinars are available on our YouTube channel.

We will continue to engage on the NPD Closure Project and are planning future webinars and outreach events related to CNL’s in situ decommissioning proposals as these projects progress