Addressing concerns from Rabble article on February 26, 2025

February 27, 2025

Good afternoon,

I am writing to you in response to your article, Ontario’s outdated nuclear vision poses serious safety and financial risks. I wish to provide clarity for the benefit of your readers.

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission is committed to ensuring the health and safety of Canadians and the environment. Any new reactor design must undergo a thorough assessment to ensure it meets all necessary requirements that adhere to the highest standards.

Our licensing process is technology-neutral, rigorous, and independent of government and industry influence. CNSC staff would never recommend issuing a licence unless we were fully satisfied that the project meets all of our safety and regulatory requirements. We will never compromise on safety.

We also do not work in isolation. The CNSC collaborates internationally with other mature regulatory bodies to leverage regulatory information to ensure nuclear safety both at home and abroad by ensuring the uppermost international standards.

The Commission is a quasi-judicial tribunal, which makes all nuclear licencing decisions in Canada. It is independent of government and industry influence and is also independent of CNSC staff, who provide their expert advice to the Commission but do not have a say in its decisions.

As the article stated, the Commission conducted a 5-day public hearing that allowed interventions to be presented to the Commission. This is unique to the CNSC; no other regulatory body carries out such transparent hearing processes. The Commission considers all the information presented to it by intervenors when making its decisions.

The CNSC is recognized as a global leader in nuclear regulation. The International Atomic Energy Agency, an autonomous, independent, international organization within the United Nations system, has reported that the CNSC has a mature and well-established nuclear regulatory framework that does an effective job in protecting the health, safety and security of Canadians and their environment. In their report, they also noted good practices with respect to the CNSC’s capacity to regulate small modular reactors, like the one proposed by the Darlington New Nuclear Project.

We remain dedicated to protecting the health and safety of Canadians and the environment through our transparent, evidence-based approach to nuclear regulation.

Yours,

Ramzi Jammal
Executive Vice-President and Chief Regulatory Operations Officer
Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission