PORT HOPE, Ontario, Dec. 23, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL), Canada’s premier nuclear science and technology organization, is pleased to announce that the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) has renewed the licence for the Port Hope Project, as part of Port Hope Area Initiative (PHAI) activities. The licence has been renewed for a 10-year period, beginning January 1, 2023. The new, single licence consolidates four previous licences for PHAI activities, authorizing CNL to continue the safe cleanup and management of historic low-level radioactive waste in Port Hope, and the ongoing monitoring and maintenance of the Port Granby Long-Term Waste Management Facility.
“This is great news for the Port Hope and Port Granby communities and for CNL,” said Joe McBrearty, CNL’s President and CEO. “The CNSC hearing gave CNL the opportunity to demonstrate to the Commission and the public our strong track record of environmental stewardship, as we have worked to clean up the environment in these communities over the past 10 years. We look forward to finishing this work.”
The combined PHAI licence will ensure efficiencies and consistency across all PHAI sites, in alignment with CNL’s comprehensive management system, and streamline reporting for CNL projects, while maintaining the same high level of standards for safety.
"As we continue work on this important, community-requested project under the new licence, we will maintain the same dedication to ongoing engagement and strengthening relationships with Indigenous communities and organizations, stakeholders and the public," said Mark Hughey, CNL’s General Manager for the PHAI.
CNL is undertaking the PHAI on behalf of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL), a federal Crown corporation. Both CNL and AECL are fully committed to completing the PHAI with a focus firmly on protecting people and the environment.