![]() The CNSC hearings will be held at the end of this month. We want to be sure that our concerns have been sufficiently addressed, and even if they have, is this the best solution for the waste issues present at the site? Ottawa Riverkeeper will be taking the next couple of months to review all available documents and information, with the help of our experts, before making a final decision on what to present at the hearings. Given the changes to this proposal, there are still many questions that need to be answered about what this final project looks like and how it will be licensed. There will be 2-part hearings, with the first scheduled for Februand the second part, which we will participate in, are scheduled for late May 2022. This information and perspective will be incorporated into the presentation we will be making at the regulatory licensing hearings.ĬNSC’s regulatory licensing hearings for the NSDF were initially planned for 2018, but have been delayed multiple times. Using participant funding from the CNSC, we will be working with experts to contribute to our analysis of the proposal, how well it addresses our concerns for this facility at Chalk River Laboratories and the potential impact on the Ottawa River. The Environmental Assessment licensing proposal was finally released on January 25th, 2022. We have been anticipating the release of the Environmental Assessment for several years. What is Ottawa Riverkeeper doing in 2022? This means that the long awaited Environmental Assessment and regulatory hearings can now move forward. In July of last year, Canadian Nuclear Laboratories’ Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed dump was finally accepted by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commision (CNSC). Some of our initial concerns have been taken into consideration in this most recent proposal, yet a number of questions remain. We have also participated in multiple consultations about the project over the years. As members of the Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories’ Environmental Stewardship Council, we have learned a great deal about the Chalk River site, its operation, and the waste that has accumulated there. Ottawa Riverkeeper has long had multiple concerns with the plans for the NSDF. Unfortunately, how this criteria is defined, and what other non-radioactive waste can also be included, remains vague. In response to concerns, the criteria for what waste is allowed at the site has been narrowed to only low level radioactive waste (as opposed to low and intermediate level waste in the initial proposal). The effluent from the plant will be discharged into Perch Lake at the Chalk River site, which eventually drains into the Ottawa River. A wastewater treatment plant is included in the proposal, and this facility will treat any runoff from the site. However, the location of the mound remains the same only a few hundred metres from the banks of the river. This should reduce the exposure to rain, snow and other environment elements which could come in contact with the material stored at the site. Instead, smaller sections will be filled and then covered temporarily until the entire mound is filled and a permanent cover is installed. The result is a proposal that has adopted, in part, some of the concerns that were raised in the first round of hearings.Īs an example, the project has switched away from the entire facility being open to the elements, which was a major concern in the initial proposal. After the initial hearings held on this proposal, Canadian Nuclear Laboratories had to make a number of adjustments, which have taken many years longer than anticipated. The Near Surface Disposal Facility (NSDF), as it is named, would take 50 years to fill with nuclear waste from the Chalk River Laboratories site, and also be used to store waste from other facilities shipped to the site. In 2016, Canadian Nuclear Laboratories submitted a project proposal to build a permanent disposal facility at the Chalk River site. The method of dealing with this waste, however, has been a contentious issue. There is no question there is a variety of waste currently stored at the site that poses a danger to the river and must be dealt with. There are several Waste Management Areas at the Chalk River site that have caused contamination of the groundwater, which continues to be released into the freshwater streams and lakes of the region to this day. The result of those incidents, along with more recent ones, has been a number of persistent waste issues. In the 1950’s there were major accidents at both the National Research Experimental Reactor and the National Research Universal Reactor at Chalk River, which took time and effort to mitigate.
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