In December 2020, CNL submitted the final Near Surface Disposal Facility (NSDF) Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) for verification that information requests from the Federal-Provincial Review Team had been adequately incorporated. CNL has recently learned that while overall the final EIS was adequately revised to reflect the majority of information requests, CNSC requires more content in the EIS about the NSDF project’s engagement with Indigenous groups.
Since 2016, CNL has been engaging with identified Indigenous groups in accordance with the requirements of an environmental assessment, under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act (CEAA 2012). CNL will be updating the final EIS to provide more clarity with regards to these engagements.
CNL will be working diligently to resubmit the final EIS in the coming weeks. Upon resubmission of a final EIS, CNSC staff will perform a subsequent review. Should the final EIS submission be deemed complete and acceptable at that time, CNSC staff will then notify CNL of the results of the review and proceed with the preparation of an Environmental Assessment Report, which will be made available for review by Indigenous groups and the public prior to a public Commission hearing.
A proposed date for the NSDF hearing will be set by the Commission Secretariat once staff have deemed that the application from CNL has met the regulatory requirements for both the Environmental Assessment and licensing.
IAA website – https://iaac-aeic.gc.ca/050/evaluations/proj/80122?&culture=en-CA
CNSC website: http://nuclearsafety.gc.ca/eng/resources/environmental-assessments/ongoing/ontario/EA_80122.cfm