Participant Funding Program decision – Review of the draft environmental impact statement for NexGen Energy Ltd.'s Rook I Project

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) announced on May 25, 2020, that it was offering a total of $150,000 through its Participant Funding Program (PFP) to assist Indigenous peoples, members of the public and stakeholders in reviewing the NexGen Energy Ltd. (NexGen) draft environmental impact statement (EIS) for the Rook I Project.

Background

Participant funding was made available by the CNSC to:

• provide new, distinctive and valuable information to the CNSC through informed and topic-specific interventions
• assist interested parties in reviewing the draft EIS for NexGen’s Rook I Project

A funding review committee (FRC), independent of the CNSC, was established to review the funding applications received by the CNSC’s PFP administrator and to make recommendations on allocating up to $150,000 to eligible applicants. The FRC was given the flexibility to recommend funding beyond $150,000 based on the value-added of the funding applications received.

The FRC members were:

• Paul Scott, retired regional director of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, Vancouver office
• Steve Burgess, retired director of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency
• Bruce Young, retired director of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency

On November 13, 2020, the FRC met to review 9 PFP applications received by the CNSC, totalling $1,122,861.10.

Eligibility and funding criteria

For more information on participant funding and how it works, including details on eligibility and funding criteria, please read the PFP guide.

CNSC participant funding decision

The CNSC has carefully considered the FRC’s recommendations on the allocation of participant funding for NexGen’s draft EIS for the Rook I Project and has approved reimbursements of up to $409,079 for the following recipients:

Applicant	Maximum amount of available funding
Saskatchewan Environmental Society	$16,400
Birch Narrows Dene Nation	$35,574
Ya’thi Nene Land and Resource Office	$47,945
Canadian Environmental Law Association	$23,160
Métis Nation-Saskatchewan	$90,000
Saskatchewan First Nations Natural Resource Centre of Excellence	$35,000
Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation	$20,000
Clearwater River Dene Nation	$96,000
Buffalo River Dene Nation	$45,000
Total	$409,079

Additional information:

Adam Zenobi
Participant Funding Program Administrator, CNSC
Tel.: 613-415-2814
Email: pfp@cnsc-ccsn.gc.ca