3.1 Acts, Regulations, and Orders

This section outlines the provincial legislation establishing the PNERP. Further description of provincial legislation is presented in Annex B .

3.1.1 Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act

The Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act establishes the province’s legal framework for managing emergencies. The legislation and its regulations do this by setting out various authorities and responsibilities accorded to provincial ministries, municipalities and specific individuals.

3.2 First Nation and Indigenous Communities

Responsibility for public safety within First Nation communities rests with the Chief and Council, whereas in Indigenous communities, it resides with their respective leadership. Communities that have Radiological or Nuclear (RN) hazards identified as part of their Hazard and Risk profile are encouraged and supported to have community emergency plans that reflect these hazards/risks as appropriate for the protection of community members.

While there are no First Nation or Indigenous communities within the Detailed Planning Zones (DPZ) of any of Ontario’s reactor facilities, there are communities and traditional territories that are within the Ingestion Planning Zone (IPZ) for reactor facilities. A DPZ is a pre-designated area immediately surrounding a reactor facility where pre-planned protective actions are implemented as needed. An IPZ is a pre-designated area identified to monitor and ensure the safety of the food, drinking water and or wild hunts/harvests and to restrict/eliminate the consumption and or distribution of potentially contaminated consumables including for example grazing animals, milk, and animal feed. First Nation Chiefs/Councils and Indigenous leadership should consider in their plans the need to undertake ingestion control measures (refer to the PNERP site specific implementing plans for Pickering NGS, Darlington NGS, Bruce NGS, Fermi 2 NPP, and for a Transborder Nuclear Emergency).

Some First Nation and/or Indigenous communities may be situated near other licensed CNSC facilities. In such cases, the communities are advised to consider relevant response measures in the event of a radiological emergency at the CNSC licensed facilities. This would include details of relevant notifications to and from the involved organizations.

Given the broad range of other radiological incidents possible (e.g., transportation accidents), First Nation and Indigenous communities should consider identifying incidents as a potential risk within their emergency plans (refer to the PNERP Implementing Plan for Other Radiological Emergencies).

3.3 International Agreements and Arrangements

Ontario has several agreements in place for the purposes of emergency response mutual assistance (e.g., Northern Emergency Management Assistance Compact (NEMAC) Agreement) as well as more specific nuclear notification agreements. The latter are detailed in the PNERP Implementing Plan for the Fermi 2 NPP and for a Transborder Nuclear Emergency. Health Canada (HC) and the United States Department of Energy developed a statement of intent supporting joint Canada-USA nuclear emergency preparedness and response capabilities with the objective to identify areas where coordination and cooperation, including information sharing and mutual assistance would be beneficial to nuclear emergency management programs and capabilities.

Canada is a signatory of the IAEA’s Convention on Assistance in the Case of a Nuclear Accident or Radiological Emergency (1986), which sets out an international framework for co-operation among countries and with the IAEA to facilitate prompt assistance and support in the event of nuclear accidents or radiological emergencies. Requests to the IAEA for international assistance would be undertaken by CNSC, as the Competent Authority-Abroad, and Global Affairs Canada.

Canada is also a signatory of the IAEA’s Convention on Early Notification of a Nuclear Accident (1986). The Convention establishes a notification system for nuclear accidents with potential for international, trans-boundary releases that could be of radiological safety significance.

International notification to the IAEA of a nuclear accident in Canada would be undertaken by the CNSC as the Competent Authority-Domestic.