Waterkeeper submits comments on two Regulatory Oversight Reports to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission
On November 16, Waterkeeper submitted two reports to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) which will be considered by Commission Members as part of their annual Regulatory Oversight Report (ROR) meeting in December.
In its reports, Waterkeeper congratulated the Commission for implementing two of its long-standing recommendations. It also underscored persistent concerns relating to the collection and communication of environmental data concerning nuclear facilities’ operations:
1. Upload environmental data
The CNSC has implemented a long-standing recommendation by Waterkeeper to upload environmental data concerning nuclear facilities to the federal Open Government data portal. This is an important step towards greater transparency and accountability of the nuclear regulator and licensed facilities, and a victory for Waterkeeper.
On September 14 of this year, the CNSC announced it would begin to upload regulatory compliance data (including environmental data) to the Open Government portal. This year’s RORs explain that these data uploads are primarily comprised of total annual releases of radionuclides into the air.
For the last several years, Waterkeeper has been recommending that environmental data be uploaded to the portal so it could be more widely accessed. Uploading nuclear energy-related environmental data will also allow it to be more easily understood in relation to other regional environmental data on the portal, so the public can better understand the ecological footprints of nuclear facilities in larger contexts.
2. Implement past Waterkeeper recommendations
CNSC staff have made a series of changes to increase the accessibility of their ROR reports. Many of these changes also implement several past Waterkeeper recommendations.
A significant increase in the use of hyperlinks and a new use of the CNSC’s Regulatory Information Bank (RIB) has increased the accessibility of this year’s RORs and the accountability of CNSC staff. The RORs also include additional information concerning CNSC licences and changes made to LCHs over the course of the year which increases transparency.
3. Provide comprehensive groundwater data
Accessibility challenges persist in environmental data reporting by the nuclear regulator and industry.
Data reported by nuclear generating facilities is too limited, as no raw data is provided and reported data is averaged. Further, the Darlington and Pickering facilities are still not providing comprehensive groundwater data, despite evidence of extremely high levels of contamination. Data reported concerning uranium processing facilities in the Lake Ontario watershed is also usually averaged, and often presented inconsistently using varying units and measurements without providing adequate explanation for these variations and discrepancies.
All this frustrates the public’s ability to understand the impact of these nuclear facilities on the swimmability, drinkability, and fishability of local lake water. As such, Waterkeeper’s submissions continue to call for all nuclear licensees and the regulator to release disaggregated environmental data in real time and machine-readable formats for all contaminants and contaminant pathways at nuclear facilities in the Lake Ontario Watershed. While this may take time to institute, it remains the gold standard and must continue to be the goal.
4. Monitor stormwater and sanitary sewer infrastructure
Ongoing gaps persist concerning impacts of nuclear facilities to local water via stormwater and sanitary sewer releases
Waterkeeper used its submissions to continue to urge the CNSC to require nuclear licensees to more actively monitor stormwater and sanitary sewer infrastructure at nuclear facilities. The organization has been warning the regulator that these are often overlooked contaminant pathways that can adversely impact Lake Ontario.
The Commission’s meeting to consider the ROR and public submissions has been scheduled to begin on December 8, 2020 and will be live-streamed online via the CNSC’s website.