Emergency management and fire protection

The CNSC requires Class I licensees to have programs for emergency management and fire protection.

Emergency management

Licensees are required to have and maintain a nuclear emergency management program that allows them to effectively respond to onsite emergencies. The facility can activate its emergency response organization to ensure that the response is properly supported and maintainable over an extended period of time to ensure the safety of the public and the environment.

In non-emergency times, licensees are required to continually work to maintain and enhance their nuclear emergency management programs. This is done through training, drills and exercises, and incorporating lessons learned from real events and previous exercises.

Fire protection

Licensees require a comprehensive fire protection program (a set of planned, coordinated, controlled and documented activities) to ensure that licensed activities do not result in unreasonable risk to the health and safety of persons and to the environment because of fire. A fire protection program also ensures that the licensee is able to efficiently and effectively respond to fires.

Fire protection provisions apply to all work related to the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of a nuclear facility, including systems, structures and components that directly support the plant and protected area.

This category includes information about emergency management and fire protection for nuclear facilities.

Research and support program

• RSP-760.1 A Study for the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission on Artificial Intelligence Applications and Implications for the Nuclear Industry
• RSP-699.1, Third-Party Evaluation of the Ontario Power Generation’s Development of Evacuation Time Estimates for Pickering NGS
• RSP-669.1, Hydrogen/CO Combustion and Passive Autocatalytic Recombiner Behaviour
• RSP-0260, Bruce fire modeling review
• RSP-0259, Industrial fire brigade staffing
• RSP-0258, Fire safe shutdown analysis review
• RSP-0209A, Consultant report on general guidelines for off-site emergency preparedness and response nuclear
• RSP-0209B, Consultant report on general guidelines for off-site emergency preparedness and response radiological

Technical papers and abstracts

• Performance Objectives and Criteria for the Annual Plant Condition Inspection (APCI) in Nuclear Power Plants
• The Use of the International Atomic Energy Agency Reactor Assessment Product Tool at the CNSC Emergency Operations Centre
• Canadian Regulator’s Perspective on Severe Accident Management of CANDU Reactors: In-Vessel Retention
• Technical and Scientific Support Organization Forum – Supporting the Development of Technical and Scientific Capacities in Member States
• Severe Accident Prevention and Mitigation in Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors
• Experience with Emergency Mitigating Equipment in Canada
• Severe Accident Management at Canadian Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs)
• Status Report on Hydrogen and Combustible Gases SOAR to NEA–WGAMA
• Overview of Liquid Sodium Fires: A Case of Sodium-Cooled Fast Reactors
• Evaluation Of The Fire Stop In Preventing Fire Spread Along Cable Trays Using Fire Dynamics Simulator
• Canadian Fire Protection Regulatory Requirements for Small Modular Reactors
• Overview of CNSC EOC Technical Tools Supporting Accident Prognosis
• Overview of Accident Prognosis Methodology and Reactor Assessment Product Tool at CNSC-EOC
• Addressing Severe Accidents Through Design Extension Conditions and Severe Accident Management
• Effect of containment systems and (early) mitigation on fission product release
• Consequences of Severe Accident Mitigating Strategies in CANDU Reactors
• Canadian regulatory framework for severe accidents
• Building adaptive capacity through everyday work
• Implementation of SAMG and Integration with Emergency Response in Canada
• CNSC Technical EOC Tools for Accident Assessment and Prognosis
• Hydrogen Assessment Tool for the Emergency Operating Centre
• Overview of the Historical and Regulatory Basis for Exclusion-Zone Sizing in Canada
• Canadian Approach to Defence in Depth, Design Extension Conditions and Severe Accident Management
• Regulatory Challenges for Human Factors in Small Modular Reactors
• Presentation on Preparing Workers for the Unexpected
• Severe accident progression without operator action
• Current fire protection regulatory approach for nuclear facilities in Canada
• Emergency power systems at Canadian nuclear power plants, including portable alternating current power sources
• Regulatory framework and insights from fire PSA of Canadian nuclear power plants
• Emergency mitigating equipments – post Fukushima actions at Canadian nuclear power plants portable AC power sources
• CNSC nuclear power plant accident handbook
• Regulatory approach for the assessment of fire protection programs at nuclear power plants in Canada

Publications

• Regulatory Oversight Report for Uranium Mines, Mills, Historic and Decommissioned sites in Canada : 2015

Health studies

• Nuclear and radiation glossary

Research from third-party sources

• Health in Disasters: A Science and Technology Studies Practicum for Medical Students and Healthcare Professionals (PDF)
• The hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis in infants and children: Protection from radioiodines
• Distributing KI pills to minimize thyroid radiation exposure in case of a nuclear accident in France
• Managing terrorism or accidental nuclear errors, preparing for Iodine-131 emergencies: A comprehensive review
• Potassium iodide for thyroid blockade in a reactor accident: administrative policies that govern its use
• Comparison of recent UNSCEAR and WHO reports
• UNSCEAR 2013 report
• WHO health risk assessment
• WHO preliminary estimate of radiation doses
• Evaluation of radiation doses and associated risk from the Fukushima nuclear accident to marine biota and human consumers of seafood

Videos from third-party source

• Huron challenge – short documentary