Good morning, Mr. Chair and committee members.
My name is Michael Binder and I am the President of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. It is a pleasure to accept your invitation to be here today.
The CNSC is Canada’s nuclear regulator. Under the Nuclear Safety and Control Act, the CNSC carries out its threefold mandate: regulating the use of nuclear energy and materials to protect the health, safety and security of Canadians and the environment; implementing Canada’s international commitments on the peaceful use of nuclear energy; and disseminating objective scientific, technical, and regulatory information to the public.
The CNSC is an independent, quasi-judicial administrative tribunal. It regulates all things nuclear in Canada including uranium mining, nuclear fuel fabrication, nuclear reactors and power plants, the production and use of medical isotopes, and the decommissioning and remediation of nuclear sites. The CNSC is therefore directly involved in regulating the nuclear facilities to which the Nuclear Liability and Compensation Act will apply.
As you know the government is responsible for setting policy such as this act, the NLCA, and the CNSC's role is to carry out its responsibilities under the act. We welcome the NLCA as it will modernize and clarify the various roles and responsibilities of those involved in case of a nuclear accident.
The CNSC's job is to make sure no claim is ever filed under the NLCA. We will not license a facility unless we are convinced it is safe. The CNSC is a hands-on regulator, and we have a robust regulatory framework in place to ensure that our licensees are operating safely and meeting their licence conditions.
One of the ways in which we do this is to conduct all kinds of studies. We undertake probabilistic safety analysis, we simulate large accident consequences, we look at physical protection measures to ensure security, and we do research to determine the life of pressure tubes. All these studies aim to ensure there are no weaknesses in the safety case and to bring in new measures to address any gaps identified.
For example, yesterday we released for public comment the “Study of Consequences of a Hypothetical Severe Nuclear Accident and Effectiveness of Mitigation Measures”, a study that investigates the health consequences of a release due to a hypothetical severe accident involving four reactors, and the mitigation measures needed to safeguard public health. This is only the latest example of the CNSC's ongoing work as a safety regulator.
You have heard references to the Fukushima Daiichi accident in Japan in 2011. I can assure you that this unfortunate accident spurred a global effort to raise standards to guard against events that were previously considered to be improbable. For our part, the CNSC ordered a review of the safety case of all nuclear operators. The result has been increased safety measures in the design and operation of our nuclear facilities.
There is now added capacity to ensure the redundancy of emergency mitigation equipment to maintain safe shutdown of one or multiple reactors simultaneously. This added capacity includes 21 portable and mobile diesel operators to provide emergency power; 20 cooling water pumps on site with municipal fire trucks acting as off-site support; enough fuel to operate for days without off-site refuelling; and additional hydrogen mitigation equipment, such as passive recombiners, have been installed to ensure protection of containment, and, hence, reduce the likelihood of release. Furthermore, the NPP licensees have established a memorandum of understanding to construct a centralized emergency response centre to provide off-site support in case of an accident.
These enhancements in the on-site emergency mitigation capabilities, as well as off-site emergency response readiness, have been procured, installed, and designed so that potential for this kind of accident ever happening in Canada is practically eliminated.
Canada enjoys an enviable safety record with no claim ever having been made under the Nuclear Liability Act. Our role is to ensure this does not change under the new act.
Our role under the proposed act is to provide advice to the minister on the designation of facilities containing nuclear material as nuclear installations that will be covered by the act.
We will also verify on an ongoing basis that licensees who are required to carry liability coverage under the proposed act are in full compliance with this obligation.
In closing, the CNSC is actively involved in overseeing all of Canada's nuclear licensees. As such, we are fully familiar with the facilities existing in Canada and the nature of nuclear materials contained on those sites. We stand ready to provide any assistance the minister requires in implementing this new legislation.
I would be pleased to answer any questions you might have. Thank you.