Two-thirds of recent environmental assessments by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, including those involving storage of radioactive waste, have taken more than two years to complete, say new numbers released by the agency.
The list of 66 projects shows that only 22 assessments of various projects, including work at mining sites and nuclear laboratories, were completed within two years, the new time limit that the federal government is proposing to set on environmental reviews through its budget implementation legislation.
Liberal natural resources critic David McGuinty said the list demonstrates the danger surrounding the government’s plan to put a time limit on the review process and the risk that regulators wouldn’t be able to adequately assess the impacts of a proposed industrial project.
