nuclear-news

Most nuclear reviews don’t meet Harper’s two-year limit Montreal Gazette, By Mike De Souza, Postmedia News June 1, 2012 OTTAWA — Two-thirds of recent environmental assessments by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, including those involving storage of radioactive waste, have taken more than two years to complete, say new numbers released by the agency.

The list of 66 projects shows that only 22 assessments of various
projects, including work at mining sites and nuclear laboratories,
were completed within two years, the new time limit that the federal
government is proposing to set on environmental reviews through its
budget implementation legislation.

Liberal natural resources critic David McGuinty said the list
demonstrates the danger surrounding the government’s plan to put a
time limit on the review process and the risk that regulators wouldn’t
be able to adequately assess the impacts of a proposed industrial
project.

“There is no analysis or rationale that can be produced by the
government to defend the two-year arbitrary timeline,” said McGuinty,
who obtained the list after making a request to the commission during
parliamentary hearings on resource development in Canada’s north. “Not
only can too long a period (for an assessment) have an impact on
economic choices and investment decisions, but too short a period can
as well.” The list, signed by the commission’s president and chief
executive officer, Michael Binder, included a one week review in
December 2002 for a project involving the disposal of liquid waste in
Peterborough, Ont., as well as an ongoing review that began in January
2006 to review the disposal of radioactive waste in Tiverton, Ont.

McGuinty suggested that project proponents would, in some complex
cases, find it hard to do all the necessary work to complete
assessments within two years. http://www.canada.com/Most+nuclear+reviews+meet+Harper+year+limit/6716437/story.html#ixzz1wflGADn2

June 2, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | general