The Near Surface Disposal Facility if necessary, but not necessarily the Near Surface Disposal Facility?
Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd appears to be signalling for the first time that it may have to reconsider plans for the proposed low-level radioactive waste site at the Chalk River Laboratories.
In its latest five-year corporate plan summary, posted recently on the company website, AECL refers to the NSDF several times as a “criticial” or “key project” in decommissioning and waste management efforts at Chalk River.
But it says delays in the construction of the NSDF are causing “a significant impact to the planned scope of work at Chalk River and other AECL sites both from a cost and schedule perspective.”
“This project is critical to advance decommissioning and remediation activities at AECL sites, and further delays, as a function of judicial reviews, or unforeseen delays in meeting other licensing conditions, could have significant cost implications for AECL,” the plan says.
“Other risks include unexpected field discoveries and greater-than-expected contamination levels.
“These risks, if realized, will lead to more extensive field work or safety and radiological controls and inevitably lead to longer schedules and increased costs.”
Approved by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission in January 2024, the NSDF has been stalled since then by judicial reviews launched by the Kebaowek First Nation, Concerned Citizens of Renfrew County and Area, and other environmental groups.
“These judicial review proceedings may result in significant delays to the Near Surface Disposal Facility project and potentially necessitate new strategies for the project and other decommissioning work that depends on having the Near Surface Disposal Facility available for waste,” AECL says in its plan.
“Depending on the outcome of the judicial review proceedings, a broad-based (operations, legal, Indigenous relations, finance) analysis of options for moving forward may be required”…
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