Canadian Nuclear Commission canadienne de Safety Commission sûreté nucléaire Public meeting Réunion publique January 21st, 2021 Le 21 janvier 2021 Public Hearing Room Salle des audiences publiques 14th floor 14e étage 280 Slater Street 280, rue Slater Ottawa, Ontario Ottawa (Ontario) via videoconference par vidéoconférence Commission Members present Commissaires présents Ms. Rumina Velshi Mme Rumina Velshi Dr. Sandor Demeter Dr Sandor Demeter Dr. Timothy Berube M. Timothy Berube Dr. Marcel Lacroix M. Marcel Lacroix Dr. Stephen McKinnon M. Stephen McKinnon Secretary: Secrétaire: Mr. Marc Leblanc Me Marc Leblanc Senior Counsel: Avocat-principal : Mr. Denis Saumure Me Denis Saumure 613-521-0703 StenoTran www.stenotran.com ii TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE Opening Remarks 1 CMD 21-M2 5 Adoption of Agenda CMD 21-M3 5 Approval of the Minutes of Commission Meeting held on November 5, 2020 CMD 21-M7 7 Oral presentation by CNSC staff CMD 21-M5 16 Oral presentation by CNSC staff CMD 21-M8 108 Written submission from CNSC staff CMD 21-M9 109 Written submission from CNSC staff CMD 21-M11 110 Written submission from CNSC staff CMD 21-M10 118 Written submission from CNSC staff CMD 21-M4 129 Oral presentation by CNSC staff CMD 21-M6 191 Oral presentation by CNSC staff 1 Ottawa, Ontario / Ottawa (Ontario) --- Upon commencing on Thursday, January 21, 2021 at 9:00 a.m. / La réunion débute le jeudi 21 janvier 2021 à 9 h 00 Opening Remarks THE PRESIDENT: Good morning and welcome to the meeting of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. Mon nom est Rumina Velshi. Je suis la présidente de la Commission canadienne de sûreté nucléaire. I would like to begin by recognizing that our participants today are located in many different parts of the country. I will pause for a few seconds in silence so that each of us can acknowledge the Treaty and/or traditional territory for our locations. Please take this time to provide your gratitude and acknowledgement for the land. Je vous souhaite la bienvenue, and welcome to all those joining us via Zoom or webcast. I would like to introduce the Members of the Commission that are with us today remotely: Dr. Sandor Demeter, Dr. Stephen McKinnon, Dr. Marcel Lacroix, and Dr. Timothy Berube. 2 I also have the pleasure to announce that Ms. Indra Maharaj was appointed by the Governor-in-Council on December 11 as a Commission Member for a term of five years. Congratulations and welcome to the commission. Ms. Maharaj is joining us today is an observer. Mr. Denis Saumure, senior counsel to the Commission, and Mr. Marc Leblanc, Commission Secretary, are also joining us remotely. As always, I would like to begin today's commission meeting with a safety moment, to talk about the recently announced COVID-19-related restrictions across Canada. In response to a doubling in COVID cases over the past three weeks, the real and looming threat of the collapse of the provincial hospital systems and alarming risks posed to long-term care homes as a result of high COVID-19 transmission rates, federal and provincial governments have increased restrictions across the country. We each need to do our bit if we are to save lives and resume normal activities in the not-so-far-distant future. This means following to a T the directions of our provincial governments and the 3 advice of our respective health authorities. How? By working from home if we can, not leaving home unless it is essential to do so, limiting gatherings and travel, wearing masks, washing our hands frequently, getting vaccinated when we can, just to name a few ones. I know that you all know this, but we have to remind ourselves each day that this is good, for our families, our co-workers, our communities, and for our own good. There is light at the end of the tunnel, but still a fairly long way to go and this is the time to raise our game even more. Let's continue to do our part. Thank you. I will now turn the floor to Mr. Leblanc for a few opening remarks. Marc? MR. LEBLANC: Merci, Madame la Présidente. For this Commission meeting, we have simultaneous interpretation. Please keep the pace of your speech relatively slow so that the interpreters are able to keep up. To make the transcripts as complete and clear as possible, please identify yourself each time before you speak. The transcripts should be available on 4 the CNSC website within one to two weeks. I would also like to note that this proceeding is being video webcast live and that archives of these proceedings will be available on our website for a three-month period after the closure of the proceedings. As a courtesy to others, please mute yourself if you are not presenting or answering a question. As usual, the President will be coordinating the questions. During the question period, if you wish to provide an answer or add a comment, please use the Raise Hand function. The Nuclear Safety and Control Act authorizes the Commission to hold meetings for the conduct of its business. Nous vous invitons à référer à l'ordre du jour qui était publié le 12 janvier 2021 pour la liste complète des items à présenter aujourd'hui. I also wish to note that all the Commission Member Documents, or CMDs, listed on the agenda are available on the CNSC website. In addition to the written documents reviewed by the Commission for this meeting, CNSC staff and other registered participants will have an opportunity to make verbal comments and Commission Members will have 5 an opportunity to ask a question on each of the items before us today. Madame Velshi, présidente et première dirigeante de la CCSN, va présider la réunion publique d'aujourd'hui. President Velshi. THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Marc. CMD 21-M2 Adoption of Agenda THE PRESIDENT: With this information, I would now like to call for the adoption of the agenda by the Commission Members as outlined in CMD 21-M3. Do we have concurrence? For the record, the agenda is adopted. CMD 21-M3 Approval of the Minutes of Commission Meeting held on November 5, 2020 THE PRESIDENT: I will now call for the approval of the minutes of the Commission meeting held on November 5, 2020, as outlined in CMD 21-M3. Are there any comments, additions, or 6 deletions that the Commission Members wish to make to the draft minutes? I note that there are no changes. Therefore, I would ask the Commission Members to approve the minutes. Do we have concurrence? Thank you. For the record, the Minutes of the November 5, 2020 Commission meeting are approved. These minutes include the decision of the Commission approving version 3 of REGDOC-2.2.4, Fitness for Duty, Volume 2: Managing Alcohol and Drug Use. The minutes are available upon request to the Secretariat and will be available on the CNSC website in both official languages at a later date. The minutes of the December Commission meeting will be presented for approval at a later date. The next item on the agenda is the status report on power reactors, as outlined in CMD 21-M7. I note that we have representatives from the nuclear power industry and CNSC staff joining us for this item. They can identify themselves later, before speaking. Dr. Viktorov, the floor is yours. 7 CMD 21-M7 Oral presentation by CNSC staff MR. VIKTOROV: Thank you. Good morning, Madam President and Members of the Commission. For the record, my name is Alexandre Viktorov. I am the Director General of the Directorate of Power Reactor Regulations. With me today are other regulatory and technical managers and specialists available to respond to your questions. The status report on power reactors, CMD 21-M7, was finalized on January 7. The following are updates reflecting changes since that date. For Bruce, Unit 1 was shut down for a planned maintenance outage. For Darlington, Unit 2 is now at 80% full power and is returning to full power following the outage to remove a fuelling machine stuck on channel. For Pickering, Units 1 and 6 have returned to full power. And Unit 8 was shut down for a planned maintenance outage. One COVID-19 case was reported under REGDOC-3.1.1, reporting criteria. For Point Lepreau, on Saturday, January 16th, the plant was taken offline. A steam rupture disk on the secondary side failed which led to 8 steam venting through the rupture disk to the atmosphere and a loud noise. The plant responded to the transient as designed and there were no injuries nor radioactive releases to the environment. Investigations and repairs by New Brunswick Power are currently in progress. CNSC staff completed inspections and verified that Point Lepreau staff have established a rod-based guaranteed shutdown state and are maintaining the availability of heat sinks as per procedures. CNSC staff also confirmed that the work areas for possible repairs are being prepared in accordance with the requirements. CNSC staff will continue to monitor the situation. This concludes the Status Report update on Power Reactors. CNSC staff are available to answer any questions that the Commission may have. Thank you. THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Dr. Viktorov. I'll now open the floor for questions from the Commission Members to staff and licensees. We'll start with Dr. Demeter. MEMBER DEMETER: Thank you very much. I did have a question on the Darlington part of the report. I'll just read the sentence here and ask the question. This is in regards to the isolation of 9 the fuel channels.