As you know, nuclear power generation in Canada, produced through the country's four operating nuclear power plants, is an important source of electricity for Canadians. However, unfortunate events such as Chernobyl and Fukushima are constant reminders that this industry is not without risks and needs to be well managed.
This is why I undertook an audit of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. The commission regulates the use of nuclear energy and materials under the 1997 Nuclear Safety and Control Act. The commission does this so that the environment and the health, safety, and security of Canadians are protected, and Canada's international commitments on the peaceful use of nuclear energy are implemented.
Verifying that the industry is complying with all laws, regulations, and conditions is a core part of what regulators have to do. My audit focused on site inspections, which are one of the key verification tools used by the commission to assure Canadians that nuclear power plants perform safely and comply with regulatory requirements and licence conditions.
At this juncture, I think it is worth mentioning that this was an audit of the commission, and not of the operators of nuclear power plants, such as OPG, who are responsible for their safe operation. My audit pertained to the commission and what it is required to do to inspect facilities, and not on the operators of nuclear power plants as such.
Also, the audit did not cover inspections of nuclear waste facilities.
In our audit, we found that the commission conducted 226 site inspections of nuclear power plants that it had planned over the two-year period that we looked at. We examined a sample of 42 site inspections, the majority of which reported compliance issues, so we looked at how they did their inspections. We found they did 226 of them. We then looked very closely at 42 site inspections and found that the majority of them had non-compliances, so when the inspections were done, non-compliances were found. However, we found that the commission followed up with the licensees, the operators, 100% of the time. Every time there was a non-compliance, the commission was on it. The commission therefore ensured that all the issues were being addressed, so that was a tick on the good side for the commission.
However, we found that it was unclear whether the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission was conducting the appropriate number and type of inspections, because its planning process was not very well documented. The commission could not show that planning was rigorous, systematic, and risk-based to verify that nuclear facilities were complying with all regulations.
Let me give you an example. The commission had a five-year plan intended to set out the minimum number of inspections required to verify compliance, but this plan changed into more of a list of all possible inspections. The list that was supposed to be the minimum number of inspections morphed into becoming a list of all the possible inspections we could do. That is not particularly systematic or rigorous. Particularly when we're talking about the nuclear industry, which has issues around safety, we need to make sure it's operating safely. From our perspective, the commission should have a five-year plan. The minimum number must be done in these five years, and it shouldn't just become a wish list of inspections.
We also found that the commission carried out only 48% of the inspections set out in that plan. Because of that, the commission also could not show that it had allocated the appropriate number of staff to carry out inspections. When we went to the nuclear stations and we spoke to the inspectors on site, at every single site we went to, the inspectors indicated to us that there were not enough inspectors on site, from their perspective.
Furthermore, we found that three-quarters of site inspections were conducted without an approved inspection guide. The commission's rules are that when an inspector goes out to do an inspection, that inspector must have an approved inspection guide, and we found that 75% of those site inspections were conducted without an approved inspection guide. An inspection guide is essentially a checklist that an inspector uses during the inspection, and it is intended to set out what needs to be checked, basically, to make sure that the inspectors cover everything. We did not find those approved guides in three-quarters of the site inspections that were completed.
We also found that the commission did not provide clear guidance to inspectors on which documents to retain, so as they're doing their inspections they've got notes, checklists, a handbook—field notes, basically as they're walking through and doing their inspection. Because this information was not retained in some cases, the commission could not show that its inspectors had looked at everything that was supposed to be verified. It could not assure us, therefore, that the inspection reports fully and accurately reflected the observations made during inspections.
Last, we found that the commission had a standard time for issuing inspection reports of 50 business days after on-site inspection activities. The commission's target was to meet the standard 80% of the time, but it did so only 64% of the time. This is important, because licensees like OPG have a certain number of days to respond to the commission with an action plan addressing the compliance issues, but this time period only starts once the operator receives the final inspection report. If much of the time it's not receiving it on time, it takes longer to fix the non-compliance issue.
Overall, our audit concluded that the commission could not show that it adequately managed its site inspections of nuclear power plants. We did make a number of recommendations to the commission, including to implement a well-documented, systematic, and risk-based planning process, a five-year plan with a minimum number of inspections—not a potential list of inspections—that followed their own procedures, meaning with approved inspection guides for every inspection.
The commission agreed with our recommendations, and its responses are published in our audit report. I also understand and have seen that the commission has posted an action plan on its website, indicating that it has already started to address our recommendations. However, we have not audited those actions.
Mr. Chair, this concludes my opening statement.
We look forward to answering the committee's questions.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.