Canada Case Law

Speck v. Canada (Attorney General)

Court

Federal Court of Appeal

The Court held that the CNSC's interpretation of s.10 of the General Regulations was reasonable: the waste rock at issue was a naturally occurring substance, not chemically processed and of radioactivity consistent with regional background, and therefore not "associated with the development, production or use of nuclear energy" for the purposes of the regulatory exemption; the appeal was dismissed.

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• Judicial review
• Statutory interpretation
• Justiciability
• Regulatory exemptions
• Radiation contamination

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Canadian Inspection Ltd. v. Canada (Attorney General)

Court

Federal Court

The Federal Court allowed Canadian Inspection Ltd’s judicial review in part, remitting one narrow issue about 33.5 base hours, while dismissing the rest.

• Fee calculation
• Issue estoppel
• Procedural fairness
• Statutory interpretation
• Remittal
• Cost recovery fees

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Concerned Citizens of Renfrew County and Area v. Canadian Nuclear Laboratories

Court

Federal Court

Judicial review of the CNSC’s approval of CNL’s NSDF licence amendment was dismissed. The Court found the decision reasonable on radiation limits, waste criteria, species at risk, and cumulative effects.

• Reasonableness review
• Environmental assessment
• Licensing
• Radiation dose limits
• Waste management and waste acceptance criteria
• Species at risk

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Carling v. Canada (Attorney General)

Court

Federal Court

The Federal Court dismissed an application for judicial review of a CNSC refusal to order testing and removal of mine waste rock causing radon at Elliot Lake homes.

• Judicial review
• Statutory interpretation
• Regulatory jurisdiction
• Exemption of naturally occurring substances
• Radon exposure
• Judicial-review

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Citizens Against Radioactive Neighbourhoods v. BWXT Nuclear Energy Inc.

Court

Federal Court

Judicial review of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission’s licence renewal decision was dismissed. The Court upheld prospective licence conditions and found no reviewable error.

• Licence renewal
• Judicial review
• Alara principle
• Precautionary principle
• Justification principle
• Class i nuclear facilities regulations

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Dow v. Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission

Court

Federal Court

The Federal Court dismissed Regan Dow’s judicial review application, finding she was not directly affected by the CNSC’s disposition of her complaint and therefore lacked standing.

• Procedural fairness
• Standing
• Reprisal/retaliation
• Statutory interpretation
• Judicial-review
• Procedural-fairness

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Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission v. Neucel Specialty Cellulose Ltd.

Court

Federal Court

The Federal Court granted the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission’s application to dispose of seized radiation devices after Neucel’s licence was revoked and the devices could not be returned.

• License revocation
• Disposal of nuclear substances and devices
• Regulatory compliance and enforcement
• Seizure under criminal code
• Jurisdiction of court to order disposal
• Nuclear-regulation

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Greenpeace Canada v. Canada (Attorney General)

Court

Federal Court of Appeal

The Court held the Responsible Authorities acted reasonably: the one-in-a-million-per-year accident threshold is an accepted standard and not irrational; the EASID was broadened to require contingency on-site long-term storage and OPG’s EIS assessed those contingency measures, so exclusion of off-site permanent storage was reasonable and consistent with s.15(3); probabilistic risk assessments, including multi-unit scenarios and Fukushima lessons, were considered and mitigations incorporated and reasonably found to reduce probabilities below the threshold; delegation of study preparation to th…

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• Environmental assessment scope
• Screening assessment
• Delegation of assessment duties
• Standard of review (reasonableness)
• Nuclear waste management
• Risk assessment of low-probability high-consequence accidents

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Ontario Power Generation Inc. v. Greenpeace Canada

Court

Federal Court of Appeal

Majority held the Panel’s use of a plant parameter envelope and its qualitative consideration of hazardous substance emissions, reliance on mitigations, regulatory controls and proponent commitments met the statutory 'consideration' requirement (s.16) because the Panel gave 'some consideration' and the Federal Court judge misapplied the reasonableness standard by imposing a higher evidentiary/form requirement; the Federal Court’s quashing of the licence and remit were set aside and judicial review applications dismissed.

Source excerpt

• Environmental assessment
• Judicial review
• Licensing
• Hazardous emissions
• Spent nuclear fuel management
• Accident risk assessment

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Greenpeace Canada v. Canada (Attorney General)

Court

Federal Court

The Federal Court dismissed a judicial review of the Darlington nuclear refurbishment EA, holding the responsible authorities reasonably scoped the project and did not unlawfully delegate CEAA duties.

• Environmental assessment
• Delegation
• Standard of review
• Mitigation measures
• Scope of project
• Licensing

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