Future Land Use

Next land uses are potential future uses of an area or site that is being cleaned up. Next land uses must be defined in order to determine “how clean is clean?” when planning decommissioning and remediation and defining the end state.

Examples: The Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment provides environmental quality guidelines based on exposure scenarios for agricultural, industrial, commercial, and residential/parkland land use categories.

An end state is the agreed environmental (physical, chemical and radiological) condition of a site at the completion of decommissioning and remediation. How are end states and next land uses determined?

Next land uses and end states are determined by following the CNL land use program process, which emphasises the importance of effective engagement. The process guides sites and projects in taking a holistic approach to planning and on when to engage interested members of the public and Indigenous communities and organizations in order to inform the cleanup planning.

All CNL sites (e.g. Chalk River Laboratories, Whiteshell Laboratories, Nuclear Power Demonstration Site etc.) that are conducting decommissioning, demolition, and environmental remediation work are required to follow the Land Use Program.

The Chalk River laboratories site has an enduring mission and is undergoing site revitalization to continue conducting world class nuclear research. The LUP is applicable at CRL as there are legacy liabilities that must be addressed in order achieve a sustainable future for the site. The cleanup planning for the site therefore must take into account near-term and long-term next land uses in order to decommission and remediate effectively.

The LUP helps to ensure that decommissioning, demolition, and environmental remediation will take a holistic site wide approach.

This ensures CNL sites and projects are conducting work effectively in order to successfully reduce legacy liabilities and ensures the cleanup of AECL’s nuclear sites across Canada is done in a consistent and effective way.

The Chalk River Laboratories (CRL) site is undergoing major revitalization efforts to enable Canadian Nuclear Laboratories’ (CNL) mission to advance nuclear science and technology and develop peaceful and innovative applications through its world class expertise in advanced reactors, safety & security, isotopes, radiobiology, the environment, hydrogen and tritium technologies and reactor fleet sustainability.

To support its mission, CNL is in the process of creating a modernized research campus by first decommissioning and removing old, obsolete buildings and infrastructure, mostly within the built-up area. Once environmental remediation is undertaken to clean up the contamination associated with any impacted areas, reusable land will be available for new facilities to support innovative research and development in nuclear science and technology.

These revitalization efforts support the effective management and reduction of Canada’s nuclear liabilities through environmental remediation towards a sustainable and healthy environment.

The Overview Decommissioning and Cleanup Plan (ODCP) is, as its name suggests, an overview of planned decommissioning as well as of environmental remediation activities.

The ODCP serves two crucial purposes:

• To describe efforts already underway to build a modern campus that will support world-class research and development in nuclear science and technology at Chalk River.
• To provide an overview of the decommissioning, demolition and environmental remediation activities at Chalk River, to support alignment with other CNL projects and work toward common goals.

In 2025 and early 2026, CNL will be assessing the current version of the ODCP to identify areas for updates and improvement.  As part of this process, CNL is seeking feedback from the public and Indigenous Nations, communities, and organizations.

We welcome your input. Please email us at [email protected].