It will be a matter of weeks to months before Canadian Nuclear Laboratories and supporters of the Near Surface Disposal Facility at Chalk River learn whether it has cleared its first legal hurdle.
Federal Court Justice Julie Blackhawk reserved her decision on an appeal of the NSDF following two days of hearings at the Supreme Court of Canada building in Ottawa.
“This is a very important, weighty matter,” Justice Blackhawk said in adjourning the hearings.
“This judicial review engages a number of important interests, not just for KFN (the Kebaowek First Nation), but I think more broadly for everyone in this region.
“So I will be taking my time to properly consider this. You’ll get my decision in due course.”
The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission agreed early this year to amend CNL’s licence for the Chalk River Laboratories to allow construction of the NSDF on a site approximately 1.1 km from the Ottawa River.
The “engineered containment mound” would be located on a “bedrock ridge” that slopes away from the river towards Perch Lake.
The site is designed to “permanently contain and isolate up to 1,000,000 cubic metres (m3) of solid low-level radioactive waste” within specially engineered liners and covers.
But KFN was one of two groups to file applications shortly after the CNSC decision requesting a judicial review by the Federal Court of Canada…
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