Canada faces an expanding legacy of defunct or soon to be defunct nuclear reactors. The decommissioning of these facilities is regulated by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC). Typically, this process occurs via applications to amend operating licences, transitioning them to allow decommissioning activities. In some cases, these licences have sought approval for in situ containment or “entombment” methods thus turning nuclear technology facilities into nuclear waste storage facilities. 

“Entombment,” where all or part of a facility is encased in structurally long-lived material is not considered a decommissioning strategy according to international guidance. No permanent storage options exist for nuclear waste in Canada.

CELA has intervened in several such hearings, raising concerns about Canada’s lack of a coherent nuclear waste strategy (see also Nuclear Waste Managment in Canada). Gathered below are materials related to client assistance in licensing hearings for reactor decommissioning proposals in Manitoba (the Whiteshell Reactor Complex in Pinawa) and Saskatchewan (the Saskatchewan Research Counsel SLOWPOKE-2 reactor in Saskatoon). 

Additional casework pages address the proposed Deep Geologic Repository for nuclear waste, withdrawn by Ontario Power Generation in June of 2020 and decommissioning proposals for facilities at Chalk River and Douglas Point in Ontario.