Thank you, Chair.
Thanks to the committee for instituting this important study. I'll make eight points.
Number one, permanent disposal facilities for nuclear reactor waste have never been approved in Canada. Such facilities will impact many future generations and we must get them right.
Number two, prior to 2015, the nuclear legacy liabilities program was under the management of Natural Resources Canada. In fall 2015, the government transferred responsibility for oversight of public expenditures for decommissioning of its nuclear facilities and reduction of its nuclear waste liabilities from NRCan to Atomic Energy of Canada Limited. AECL issued a 10-year, multi-billion dollar contract to a multinational consortium under a government-owned, contractor-operated—or GOCO—model.
The GOCO contract was based on similar arrangements in the U.K. and U.S., but in April of 2016, the U.K.’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority terminated its GOCO contract with the consortium operating the Sellafield nuclear site. Problems included escalating GOCO costs, increased liability amounts, large GOCO executive turnover and questionable contractor expenses.
Then, in March 2017, the NDA announced that its GOCO contract with the nuclear Cavendish Fluor partnership would be terminated after five years instead of 14 years. Texas-based Fluor was a partner in that partnership and is a partner in the Canadian National Energy Alliance, which is AECL’s GOCO contractor, so does AECL, which now has 40 staff, have sufficient capacity for oversight of the GOCO contract and associated subcontracts?
This raises concerns about government accountability, fiscal responsibility, public oversight of Canada's nuclear waste liabilities and our ability to meet international obligations related to nuclear waste and nuclear safety. Intervention by Parliament is recommended to restore public control and oversight of federal nuclear facilities and their radioactive wastes and to ensure public funds are spent wisely to contain and isolate these wastes.
The third point is that AECL’s discounted $7.4-billion liability for federally owned nuclear sites, which is an “asset retirement obligation” in the Public Accounts of Canada, exceeds the $7.1-billion federal liability for over 2,500 contaminated sites. AECL’s undiscounted liabilities are estimated at $16 billion.
Deloitte recommends discounting of asset retirement obligations only if the “aggregate amount of the liability” is “fixed or reliably determinable” and “the amount and timing of cash payments are fixed or reliably determinable”. However, future liability amounts and payments are uncertain. The 2021-22 main estimates include $808 million for AECL’s nuclear decommissioning and radioactive waste management expenses. As of September 2021, AECL had $59 million in a trust fund reserved for disposal of federal high-level spent fuel and $47 million in a long-term disposal of waste fund to manage commercial wastes.
The fourth point is that commercial wastes, some imported from foreign countries, are transferred from private to government ownership and stored at AECL’s Chalk River Laboratories. This has potential to increase the government’s nuclear liability. Proposals to build small modular reactors on AECL’s properties could also increase the liability.
The fifth point is that Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, owned by the GOCO consortium, is proposing three permanent radioactive waste disposal projects on AECL’s properties. The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission is assessing these proposals under the former Canadian Environmental Assessment Act. An environmental assessment expert panel noted an apprehension of bias regarding CNSC’s role as the responsible authority for nuclear projects. The panel recommended that CNSC not retain this role, and the new Impact Assessment Act reflects that for future projects, but proposals continue under the old regime.
The CNSC recently announced a licensing hearing for the near surface disposal facility, or NSDF, which involves the permanent disposal of a million tonnes of federal and commercial radioactive waste in a landfill-type facility at Chalk River.