SHORT TITLE

Marginal note:Short title

1. This Act may be cited as the Nuclear Fuel Waste Act.

INTERPRETATION

Marginal note:Definitions

2. The following definitions apply in this Act.

“economic region”

« région économique »

“economic region” means an economic region described by Statistics Canada in its Guide to the Labour Force Survey, published on January 31, 2000.

“management”

« gestion »

“management”, in relation to nuclear fuel waste, means long-term management by means of storage or disposal, including handling, treatment, conditioning or transport for the purpose of storage or disposal.

“Minister”

« ministre »

“Minister” means the Minister of Natural Resources or such member of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada as the Governor in Council may designate as the Minister for the purposes of this Act.

“nuclear energy corporation”

« sociétés d’énergie nucléaire »

“nuclear energy corporation” means

• (a) Ontario Power Generation Inc., Hydro-Québec, New Brunswick Power Corporation, and any other body that owns nuclear fuel waste resulting from the production of electricity by means of a commercial nuclear reactor;

• (b) any successor or assignee of a corporation mentioned in paragraph (a); and

• (c) any assignee of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, being the company incorporated or acquired pursuant to subsection 10(2) of the Atomic Energy Control Act, chapter A-19 of the Revised Statutes of Canada, 1970.

“nuclear fuel waste”

« déchets nucléaires »

“nuclear fuel waste” means irradiated fuel bundles removed from a commercial or research nuclear fission reactor.

“prime rate”

« taux de base »

“prime rate” means, for any day, the rate of interest charged by banks to their most credit-worthy borrowers for short-term business loans, as determined and published by the Bank of Canada for the month in which the day falls.

“waste management organization”

« société de gestion »

“waste management organization” means the corporation established under section 6, regardless of the actual name of that corporation.

PURPOSE OF ACT

Marginal note:Comprehensive, integrated and economically sound approach

3. The purpose of this Act is to provide a framework to enable the Governor in Council to make, from the proposals of the waste management organization, a decision on the management of nuclear fuel waste that is based on a comprehensive, integrated and economically sound approach for Canada.

APPLICATION OF ACT

Marginal note:Binding on Her Majesty

4. This Act is binding on Her Majesty in right of Canada or a province.

Marginal note:Application to nuclear energy corporations and AECL

5. This Act applies to a nuclear energy corporation and to Atomic Energy of Canada Limited only if it is the owner of nuclear fuel waste.

WASTE MANAGEMENT ORGANIZATION

Marginal note:Incorporation and purpose

• 6. (1) The nuclear energy corporations shall establish a corporation, in this Act referred to as the waste management organization, whose purpose under this Act is to do the following on a non-profit basis:

  • (a) propose to the Government of Canada approaches for the management of nuclear fuel waste; and

  • (b) implement the approach that is selected under section 15 or is approved under subsection 20(5).

• Marginal note:Participation in waste management organization

  (2) Once the waste management organization has been established, every nuclear energy corporation shall become and remain a member or shareholder of it.

• Marginal note:Not an agent of Her Majesty

  (3) For all purposes the waste management organization is not an agent of Her Majesty in right of Canada.

Marginal note:Duty toward other owners of nuclear fuel waste

7. The waste management organization shall offer, without discrimination and at a fee that is reasonable in relation to its costs of managing the nuclear fuel waste of its members or shareholders, to

• (a) Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, and

• (b) all owners of nuclear fuel waste produced in Canada that are neither members nor shareholders of the waste management organization

its nuclear fuel waste management services that are set out in the approach that the Governor in Council selects under section 15 or approves under subsection 20(5).

Marginal note:Advisory Council

• 8. (1) The waste management organization shall create an Advisory Council, which shall

  • (a) examine the study referred to in subsection 12(1) and the triennial reports referred to in section 18 that are to be submitted to the Minister; and

  • (b) give written comments on that study and those reports to the waste management organization.

• Marginal note:Representation on Advisory Council

  (2) The members of the Advisory Council shall be appointed by the governing body of the waste management organization. The governing body shall make all reasonable efforts to ensure that the Advisory Council’s membership

  • (a) reflects a broad range of scientific and technical disciplines related to the management of nuclear fuel waste;

  • (b) reflects expertise, in matters of nuclear energy,

    • (i) in public affairs, and

    • (ii) as needed, in other social sciences;

  • (b.1) reflects expertise in traditional aboriginal knowledge; and

  • (c) includes representatives nominated by local and regional governments and aboriginal organizations that are affected because their economic region is specified for the approach that the Governor in Council selects under section 15 or approves under subsection 20(5).

FINANCING

Marginal note:Trust funds

• 9. (1) Each nuclear energy corporation and Atomic Energy of Canada Limited shall maintain in Canada, either individually or jointly with one or more of the other nuclear energy corporations or Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, one trust fund with a financial institution incorporated or formed by or under an Act of Parliament or of the legislature of a province, except, in the case of a nuclear energy corporation, a financial institution in relation to which the nuclear energy corporation beneficially owns, directly or indirectly, more than ten per cent of the outstanding shares of any given class of shares.

• Marginal note:Documents relating to trust funds

  (2) The financial institution that holds a trust fund referred to in this section shall maintain in Canada all documents relating to that trust fund.

Marginal note:Initial deposit to trust funds

• 10. (1) Each body mentioned in this subsection shall, either directly or through a third party, no later than 10 days after the day on which this Act comes into force, deposit to its trust fund maintained under subsection 9(1) the following respective amounts:

  • (a) Ontario Power Generation Inc., $500,000,000;

  • (b) Hydro-Québec, $20,000,000;

  • (c) New Brunswick Power Corporation, $20,000,000; and

  • (d) Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, $10,000,000.

• Marginal note:Subsequent deposits to trust funds

  (2) Each body mentioned in this subsection shall in each year, either directly or through a third party, no later than the anniversary of the day on which this Act comes into force, deposit to its trust fund maintained under subsection 9(1) the following respective amounts:

  • (a) Ontario Power Generation Inc., $100,000,000;

  • (b) Hydro-Québec, $4,000,000;

  • (c) New Brunswick Power Corporation, $4,000,000; and

  • (d) Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, $2,000,000.

• Marginal note:When obligation ceases to apply

  (3) Subsection (2) ceases to apply on the day on which the Minister approves the amount of the deposit under paragraph 16(3)(a).

• Marginal note:Calculation of interest

  (4) Interest accumulates on any portion of a deposit not paid by the day referred to in subsection (1) or (2), at the prime rate plus two per cent, calculated daily from the day referred to in subsection (1) or (2), as the case may be, to the day before the day of the deposit.

• Marginal note:Latest date for deposit

  (5) Each body mentioned in subsection (1) or (2) shall, either directly or through a third party, deposit to its trust fund maintained under subsection 9(1), no later than 30 days after the date of the decision of the Governor in Council under section 15, the applicable amount referred to in subsection (1) or (2) plus an amount, if any, equal to the interest.

Marginal note:Withdrawals from trust funds

• 11. (1) Only the waste management organization may withdraw moneys from a trust fund maintained under subsection 9(1).

• Marginal note:Condition for withdrawals

  (2) The waste management organization may make withdrawals only for the purpose of implementing the approach that the Governor in Council selects under section 15 or approves under subsection 20(5), including avoiding or minimizing significant socio-economic effects on a community’s way of life or on its social, cultural or economic aspirations.

• Marginal note:First withdrawal

  (3) The waste management organization may make the first withdrawal only for an activity in respect of which a construction or operating licence has, after the date of the decision of the Governor in Council under section 15, been issued under section 24 of the Nuclear Safety and Control Act.

• Marginal note:Ministerial approval

  (4) If the Minister is of the view that the waste management organization has withdrawn moneys from a trust fund contrary to subsection (2) or (3), the Minister may require the Minister’s prior approval in respect of any future withdrawal from a trust fund by the waste management organization.