CELA represents and works alongside First Nations, citizen groups, and public interest NGOs on nuclear safety matters at Chalk River Laboratories, a large complex of nuclear facilities located 180 km northwest of Ottawa. Our clients and allies strenuously oppose plans by Canadian Nuclear Laboratories Ltd. (CNL) (responsible for management and operation of Chalk River Laboratories) to “entomb” and abandon nuclear reactors at its facilities alongside the Ottawa River. Proposals are proceeding in the absence of meaningful and enforceable policy on how to manage wastes that will be highly toxic for hundreds of thousands of years (see also: Nuclear Waste Management in Canada). Canada’s nuclear safety regulator, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) has authority for these licensing and federal environmental assessment (EA) matters.
The nuclear activities at Chalk River are varied and significant and have taken place over decades. This case page represents merely some of those few environmental assessment and regulatory proceedings on which CELA has provided comments. For more detailed information please see resources from CNL or from the regulator, CNSC.
Four of our interventions, focused on watershed impacts, are profiled below.
This page addresses four issues:
CELA is intervening in this federal EA that is proceeding under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 2012. Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) proposes a decommissioning of a former nuclear power prototype reactor that operated until 1987. The facility is located in Renfrew County, Ontario, on the south bank of the Ottawa River, northwest of Ottawa. Onsite facilities that are subject to this EA include the main reactor building, two landfills, and miscellaneous additional structures. Shortcomings in this matter include a failure to critically assess the containment of long-lived radioactive waste in multiple respects including: environmental effects, sustainability, and health protection standards. Indeed, the reactor entombment proposal is contrary to international best practices. Due to information deficiencies in the Canadian Nuclear Laboratories draft Environmental Impact Statement, the regulator (CNSC) has requested further information before continuing the EA process. See also CELA’s intervention in the ongoing decommissioning of the Whiteshell Reactor complex in Manitoba, a similar proposal for reactor “entombment.”
In 2016, the privately-owned Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) proposed a Near Surface Disposal Facility (NSDF) for their Chalk River site.
CNL applied to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) to amend its nuclear research and operating license for the site to allow for an NSDF for low-level radioactive waste. Prior to granting the license, the NSDF is required to undergo a federal environmental assessment (EA) under the EA legislation that was in place at the time, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 2012.
In May of 2022, CNSC held a five-day public hearing to consider the CNL’s application. CELA made a submission in writing and appeared before the Commission during the hearing. CELA law students wrote a daily blog from the hearing (see links below).
Following the hearing, the CNSC extended the deadline for written comments to allow more time for consultation with Indigenous communities.
The final day of the hearing was August 10, 2023. CELA made an additional written submission in advance of the hearing, which can be found here, and attended the hearing.
The CNSC released a decision on January 9, 2024 allowing the project to proceed. CELA is extremely disappointed with this decision as an inappropriate outcome for the protection of the environment and human health, including the ecosystems and people who rely on the Ottawa River system. Our full media release can be found here.
More information can be found on the CSNC website.
CELA and clients intervened on aspects of a license renewal application for Chalk River in 2017. CNL had submitted a notice of application to amend its nuclear research and test establishment license for the Chalk River Laboratories site for a proposed period of ten years. According to the notice, CNL was seeking approval to continue operation until March 31, 2028, during which it would “modernize and consolidate its CRL operations, including the shutdown of the National Research Universal reactor and various infrastructure and site improvements.”
Since that date, the National Research Universal Reactor (NRU) has subsequently been permanently shut down. CELA has also intervened from time to time in the annual Nuclear Regulatory Oversight Reports before the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, for the Chalk River Facilities both at the Chalk River campus and elsewhere. For example, the 2023 ROR dealt with all of the Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories Facilities in one oversight report, including the facilities at Chalk River, Whiteshell, Port Hope and others.
In 2011, CELA provided comments on the terms of reference for the Historic Plutonium Tower Decommissioning project. That historic plutonium tower has since been decommissioned.
