Nuclear Liability and Compensation Regulations

Title or working title of the Regulatory Initiative:

Nuclear Liability and Compensation Regulations

Description of the objective:

Enabling Act: Nuclear Liability and Compensation Act

The regulations will support implementation of the Nuclear Liability and Compensation Act (NLCA) which received Royal Assent on February 26, 2015.  The NLCA provides an enhanced liability framework to govern operators of nuclear installations so that operators will be held responsible and accountable to the Canadian public in the unlikely event of a nuclear incident.

The NLCA sets the absolute (“no fault”) liability limit of an operator of a nuclear installation at $650 million, gradually increasing to $1 billion four years after the coming into force of the legislation. The $1 billion amount will apply to nuclear power plant operators.

The regulations i) designate which nuclear facilities will be subject to the Act and ii)  establish the different classes of nuclear installations and the associated absolute liability amounts. Given that all nuclear installations do not represent the same level of risk as a nuclear power plant, these regulations ensure that the level of liability of operators is commensurate with the risk of their respective nuclear installations.

Indication of business impacts:

There are no expected impacts in terms of the administrative burden on business.

Public consultation opportunities:

In October 2014, preliminary consultations on the substance of the proposed regulations were undertaken with all nuclear installation operators. There were no major issues identified as a result of these consultations.

Per general consultation practices, the regulations were pre-published in Part I of the Canada Gazette on June 27, 2015, for public comment.  The Department has taken into consideration all comments received during the pre-publication period.  Final regulations were published in Part II of the Canada Gazette on May 18, 2016, along with explanations of how public comments were addressed.

The regulations will come into effect on January 1^st, 2017, the same day that the enabling legislation, the Nuclear Liability and Compensation Act, comes into force.

Departmental contact:

Dave McCauley
Director, Uranium and Radioactive Waste Division, Energy Sector
580 Booth Street
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0E4
dave.mccauley@canada.ca