The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) has annnounced that it is increasing the cost recovery fees that it charges its licensees, and the country's five reactor operators will bear most of the burden. The new fee schedule presented to licensees would bring cost recover revenues up to 80% of the CNSC's operating expenditures, from 59% last year.
About two-thirds of the revenues will come from reactor operators, which will be billed over C$33.4 million in 2003-4 for services rendered by CNSC. The new rates to be applied to this class of licensee will be about 40% higher than those currently in place.
The charges range from just over C$3 million for work at Hydro-Quebec's Gentilly 2, to nearly C$5.2 million for Ontario Power's Darlington plant. The companies will also face additional levies for services that are related to their waste management operations.
The CNSC said that the scope of its activities has been increasing at the same time as its costs were rising.
• The CNSC has approved guidelines to apply to the environmental assessment screening process of two major licensing applications: the restart of Bruce 3 and 4, and the international thermonuclear experimental fusion reactor (ITER) proposed to be sited next to the Darlington station.
