Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman and honourable members of the committee.
My name is Terry Jamieson and I’m the vice-president of the technical support branch at the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, or CNSC.
I’m joined today by Lisa Thiele, our senior general counsel.
Thank you for inviting us to discuss the CNSC’s participation as a recipient institution under the Security of Canada Information Sharing Act.
Here's a little bit about the CNSC. The CNSC is Canada's nuclear regulator. Under the Nuclear Safety and Control Act, or NSCA, the CNSC carries out its threefold mandate.
First, we regulate the use of nuclear energy and materials to protect health, safety, security, and the environment. Second, we implement Canada's international commitments on the peaceful use of nuclear energy; and third, we disseminate objective scientific, technical, and regulatory information to the public.
We are an independent, quasi-judicial administrative tribunal. The CNSC regulates all things nuclear in Canada, including uranium mining, nuclear fuel fabrication, nuclear reactors and power plants, the production and use of medical isotopes, the decommissioning and remediation of nuclear sites, and the safe management of nuclear waste.
The CNSC was established in 2000 under the Nuclear Safety and Control Act and reports to Parliament through the minister of Natural Resources. The commission may have up to seven appointed permanent members whose decisions are supported by more than 800 employees. Our employees review applications for licences according to regulatory requirements. We make recommendations to the commission and we also enforce compliance with the Nuclear Safety and Control Act, regulations, and any licensed conditions imposed by our commission members.
The CNSC has two key responsibilities related to national security under the NSCA. First, the CNSC is responsible for preventing risk to national security by regulating the development, production, and use of nuclear energy, nuclear substances, prescribed equipment, and prescribed information.
The CNSC has one of the top nuclear security programs in place in the world. Our focus is on preventing sabotage of a nuclear facility or theft or loss of nuclear materials. We identify potential risks and threats to the Canadian nuclear industry and we develop the regulatory requirements necessary to ensure these risks are mitigated and that the threats are prevented, detected, or responded to appropriately.
In 2015, Canada welcomed a peer review mission from the International Atomic Energy Agency that concluded that Canada operates a mature, effective, and well-established nuclear security regime.
Our second area of responsibility related to national security is the implementation of Canada's obligations relating to the safeguarding and non-proliferation of nuclear materials. An example of how the CNSC works to prevent proliferation is through our licensing program, which controls the import and export of nuclear material, equipment, and information. This program requires information in order to assess applications and verify compliance with control measures.
The CNSC became a recipient organization under SCISA to ensure that we receive timely information about a nuclear-related activity that could potentially undermine the security of Canada. The frequency of such events is thankfully low, and I'd like to stress that to date, CNSC has not had to use SCISA. Under the act, the CNSC's authorities to receive information have not changed, but rather, other Government of Canada institutions are provided a better understanding of our mandate as a recipient institution and are given the authority to disclose relevant information to us.
As a recipient institution under SCISA, the CNSC considers the protection of national security information and the personal information handling provisions of the Privacy Act to be of the highest priority.
While we have existing processes in place, we are committed to continuous improvement and, as a result of the Privacy Commissioner's annual report, the CNSC is undertaking a privacy impact assessment that will capture SCISA. We're also working to clarify our procedures to ensure that they're well understood by all impacted areas of our organization.
This concludes my remarks, and I would be pleased to answer any questions that you might have.
Thank you.