WC148 MayJune 2026 - Magazine - Page 29
reviews of environmental monitoring data
and environmental risk assessments.
The CNSC also has an independent
environmental monitoring program which
samples air, water, food, and soil near
nuclear facilities, relevant regional health
studies, other governmental monitoring
programs and Indigenous knowledge studies,
Gosselin noted.
“For thermal effects on water, licensees
or project proponents must show that their
activities do not pose an unacceptable risk
to aquatic life. They usually do this by using
temperature loggers and computer models to
show how far and for how long warmer water spreads. They also use nearshore habitat
surveys and scientific studies to identify sen“Building these reactors on drinking water,
sitive species, life stages, and temperature
limits that could cause harm,” he said.
you really need to have stricter health guidelines
The long-term costs of running nuclear
and certainly that’s not the case in Canada.”
power plants are also a focus of concern for
Mattson, who cautioned that once built, a
plant must be used until it reaches its end
point.
“When you have nuclear power plants,
they’re baseload (24/7 high-capacity operation) and you need to pay them off over the
next 25 years. You can’t turn them on or off
or in six years and decide to use something
else, it’s going to take up the 25 years, and
peratures, up to 40 degrees Celsius.”
they have to use up their baseload,” Mattson said.
Mattson concluded that while the earlier nuclear plants
“Building these reactors on drinking water, you really need to
may not have known of the effects on the water and organisms
have stricter health guidelines and certainly that’s not the case in
within them, they are currently aware and at this point facilities
Canada. We allow some of the highest levels of tritium into our
should not be built on the Great Lakes.
drinking water at 7,000 Bq/L. In the U.S. it’s 70-700 dependIn a reply to questions about environmental review processes
ing on the state,” he said.
from Water Canada, Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission
“I don’t want to be seen as being certain these are having ter(CNSC) media relations spokesperson Michael Gosselin said
rible impacts, but I am saying that these need to be scrutinized,
the CNSC conducts environmental protection reviews (EPRs)
shared and looked at publicly,” he added.
for all nuclear facilities with potential interactions with the
Gosselin pointed to the CNSC’s review process as a suitable
environment, in accordance with its mandate under the NSCA
form of analysis for nuclear technologies of both large and small
to ensure the protection of the environment and the health and
scale.
safety of all people in Canada.
“The CNSC has a robust regulatory framework that builds
“These science-based technical reviews among many other
on experience from regulating existing designs and remains suitareas track waterborne effluent, assess the local aquatic environable for licensing activities associated with varying facilities
ment, and water quality,” he said.
and technologies. The regulatory framework is flexible, and its
He added reviews are based on information that the proporequirements are technology-neutral and performance-based.
nent or licensee submits to CNSC, such as licence applications
Therefore, it can assess a broad diversity of operating and safety
and supporting documentation that outline environmental
technologies, regardless of the scale and capacity of a given projprotection measures and programs, compliance and techniect,” he said. “Integrated Impact Assessments between IAAC
cal assessment activities completed by CNSC staff, such as
and CNSC are purpose-built for such projects.”
WAT E R C A N A D A . N E T
WATER C AN ADA • M AY/JUNE 2026
29
