The Pickering nuclear hearing record will remain open until 4 p.m. on November 19 so participants can respond to additional evidence and proposed licence conditions concerning Ontario Power Generation’s refurbishment application.
The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission published the procedural direction on October 23. The document, dated October 20, creates another filing opportunity after the second part of the public hearing, held October 6 to 9.
It is not a decision approving the refurbishment or renewing the licences. The commission expressly says the direction makes no finding on the merits of OPG’s application or the positions advanced by participants.
Late evidence prompts another response period
The commission says significant information entered the record in the week before, during and after the October hearing. That material includes the construction and in-service timeline for a proposed deep-water intake, the basis document for a periodic safety review, a revised predictive environmental risk assessment and an update on potassium iodide distribution.
All hearing participants are invited to make written submissions on those additions and on the proposed licence conditions identified in the direction. This is an opportunity for participants in the existing proceeding; it should not be confused with a new general call for intervention requests.
The commission explains that procedural fairness requires a meaningful opportunity to understand and answer the matters before it. An additional response period is intended to help produce a complete and transparent evidentiary record.
Indigenous engagement and proposed conditions
The direction also describes requests from the Michi Saagiig Anishinaabeg of the Williams Treaties First Nations. At the October hearing, the nations sought a binding condition requiring the deep-water intake to be completed as soon as technically possible and before the licence expires.
They subsequently proposed revised wording for licence condition G.7. Their proposed addition would require OPG to integrate Indigenous knowledge, as shared and where appropriate, into policies, procedures and regulatory documents.
These are proposals before the commission, not conditions that this procedural direction has adopted.
OPG, CNSC staff, the Williams Treaties First Nations and the Saugeen Ojibway Nation are also invited to provide submissions on engagement and consultation work undertaken since October 9. That may include compliance-verification criteria and reporting requirements for proposed condition G.7.
Licence application remains undecided
OPG applied in June 2025 to renew the Pickering generating station and waste management facility licences as one consolidated power-reactor operating licence for a 10-year term. It also requested authorization to refurbish units 5 to 8. The direction states that the existing licences remain valid until August 31, 2028.
Following the additional filing period, the commission will assess whether it has the information required to decide the application. Unless it directs otherwise, further information will not be accepted once the record closes. Additional submissions will enter the public record, subject to confidentiality and the stated filing criteria.
Featured image: original conceptual editorial illustration, not a photograph of the Pickering site or an official hearing document.
