CNSC Participant Funding Program decision: Cameco Corporation's waste facility operating licence amendment for the Beaverlodge Project

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) announced on March 25, 2019 that it was offering $50,000 under its Participant Funding Program (PFP) to Indigenous peoples, members of the public, and stakeholders. These funds are to assist them to participate in the licence amendment application review and the Commission’s public hearing process for Cameco Corporation’s (Cameco) waste facility operating licence for the Beaverlodge Project, specifically in submitting comments, in writing, to the Commission. In addition, in the spirit of reconciliation and in recognition of the Indigenous oral tradition of sharing knowledge, the CNSC will give Indigenous intervenors the opportunity to make oral presentations.

Background

Participant funding was made available by the CNSC:

• for the provision of new, distinctive and valuable information to the Commission through informed and topic-specific interventions
• to assist interested parties to participate in the licence application review and the Commission’s public hearing process for the renewal of Cameco’s waste facility operating licence amendment for the Beaverlodge Project.

A funding review committee (FRC), independent from the CNSC, was established to review the funding applications received by the CNSC’s PFP administrator, and to make recommendations on the allocation of up to $50,000 for eligible applicants.

The FRC members were:

• Paul Scott, retired Regional Director of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency’s Vancouver office
• Bruce Young, retired Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency Director
• Steve Burgess, retired Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency Director

The FRC reviewed three PFP applications received by the CNSC; the applicants had requested a total of $80,133.

Eligibility and funding criteria

For more information on participant funding and how it works, including details on eligibility and funding criteria, please read the PFP guide.

CNSC participant funding decision

The CNSC has carefully considered the FRC’s recommendations on the allocation of participant funding in the matter of the Cameco Corporation’s waste facility operating licence amendment for the Beaverlodge Project and has approved the reimbursement of up to $50,000 to the following recipients:

Applicant	Maximum amount of available funding
Ya’thi Néné Lands and Resource Office	$25,300
Saskatchewan Environmental Society	$5,175
Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation	$19,525
Total	$50,000

Additional information:

Adam Zenobi
Participant Funding Program Administrator, CNSC
Tel.: 613-992-8469
Email: pfp@cnsc-ccsn.gc.ca