Chris Lowrey
PONTIAC March 29, 2018
The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) has approved Canadian Nuclear Laboratories’ (CNL) application to renew the operating license for its Chalk River campus.
The new license is good until 2028.
CNL has come under fire in recent months by opponents who charge that the organization is not doing enough to safeguard the facility’s nuclear waste.
The approval was granted after a three-day hearing in Pembroke where local residents and Indigenous representatives raised concerns about the organization’s environmental and safety precautions.

Included in the approval is the mandate that CNL must release a comprehensive midterm report by 2023, which will supplement annual regulatory oversight reports by the CNSC.
CNL also announced last week that it has issued a request for proposals to design and construct a new advanced nuclear materials research centre.
The cost of the project is pegged at $370 million and will provide research and development for its science and technology programs.
Construction for the new laboratory is scheduled to begin in 2019.
The goal for the new laboratory is to consolidate the capabilities from several aging facilities that are scheduled to be decommissioned.
CNL said in a press release that the services provided by the new lab will help extend the lifespan of the facility.
This project is one prong in an ongoing 10-year effort to revitalize the Chalk River campus. The $1.2 billion investment for the revitalization came from Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) via the government of Canada.
Construction started last month on a $100 million project for three new enabling facilities at the campus.