CSA N288.5:11 (R2021)

Preface

This is the first edition of CSA N288.5, Effluent monitoring programs at Class I nuclear facilities and uranium mines and mills. It is part of a series of Standards and guidelines on environmental management of nuclear facilities.

This Standard addresses the design, implementation, and management of an effluent monitoring program that meets legal and business requirements and incorporates current best practices and technologies used internationally.

Users of this Standard are reminded that additional and site-specific requirements might be specified by federal, provincial/territorial, or municipal authorities. This Standard should not be considered as a replacement for the requirements contained in any

(a) applicable federal or provincial/territorial statute, including the Nuclear Safety and Control Act; or

(b) regulation, licence, or permit issued pursuant to an applicable statute.

Scope

1.1 Facilities

1.1.1 Types of facilities

1.1.1.1

This Standard addresses the design and operation of effluent monitoring programs for Class I nuclear facilities and uranium mines and mills. These facilities include

(a) nuclear reactors;

(b) uranium mines, mills, refineries, and conversion plants;

(c) uranium fuel fabrication plants;

(d) isotope processing facilities;

(e) particle accelerators with a beam energy equal to or greater than 50 MeV; and

(f) waste management facilities.

1.1.1.2

Parts of this Standard could also be relevant to the design and operation of effluent monitoring programs for

(a) Class II nuclear facilities;

(b) institutions operating under the authority of a Nuclear Substances and Radiation Devices licence; and

(c) facilities that use or store naturally occurring radioactive materials.

However, in these situations, the operator of the facility or institution is responsible for determining the applicability and suitability of this Standard.

1.1.2 Facility lifecycle

The nature and extent of effluent monitoring requirements change over the lifecycle of the facility. This Standard addresses monitoring performed during

(a) site preparation, construction, and commissioning;

(b) operations; and

(c) decommissioning.

1.2 Operating conditions

The monitoring described in this Standard is applicable where nuclear and hazardous substances might be released to the environment as the result of the normal operation of a nuclear facility or licensed activity.

This Standard does not address emissions that can occur during accidental releases, although some parts of this Standard might be applicable to the monitoring of the emissions from such an event. In these cases, the operator of the nuclear facility or licensed activity is responsible for determining the applicability of this Standard.

Note: Any release resulting from a deviation from routine operational practice that is expected to occur once or several times during the operating lifetime of a nuclear facility or licensed activity is not considered to be an accidental release.

1.3 Effluent properties

This Standard provides information on effluent monitoring for nuclear and hazardous substances and physical characteristics of the effluent identified in the ERA, EMS, and/or in the statutes, regulations, licences, and permits that govern the operation of the nuclear facility or licensed activity. These can include one or more of the following:

(a) the presence of nuclear substances such as radionuclides or radioactive substances;

(b) hazardous substances such as toxic, corrosive, or environmentally deleterious substances;

(c) physical characteristics such as temperature, pH, volume, or density; and

(d) biological characteristics such as toxicity or fecal coliform.

1.4 Releases

This Standard addresses monitoring intended to provide ascertained (measured) or estimated (unmeasured) release quantities and concentrations associated with continuous or intermittent releases of nuclear or hazardous substances emitted during normal operation.

Note: Reasonably foreseeable upset events are included within normal operations but this Standard does not address releases that result from accidents.

1.5 Exclusions

1.5.1 Solid waste

This Standard does not address the disposal of solid waste, which can include raw solid waste and waste immobilized in a solid matrix (e.g., cement, bitumen, or mine tailings). Nevertheless, airborne or waterborne effluents released from solid waste management facilities are addressed in this Standard.

1.5.2 Groundwater monitoring

This Standard does not address groundwater monitoring, which is typically covered under an EMP; however, groundwater that is pumped for treatment and discharged to or mixed with the effluent stream would need to be covered under the effluent monitoring program.

1.6 Monitoring

This Standard addresses monitoring performed for regulatory purposes (compliance monitoring).

Some of the guidance in this Standard can be applied to monitoring performed for the sole benefit or use of the operator (process monitoring), in which case it might not be necessary to apply the same degree of rigour or QA to process monitoring as would be necessary for compliance monitoring. As such, it might not be necessary to apply the guidance on interpretation of data (Clause 9), QA (Clause 10), and reporting (Clause 11) to process monitoring. For all Clauses, it is the responsibility of the operator to determine if a particular requirement is appropriate for process monitoring in a given situation.

1.7 Interpretation

This Standard provides guidance on the interpretation of data collected by an effluent monitoring program.

Users are cautioned that the statutes, regulations, licences, and permits that govern the operation of the nuclear facility or licensed activity can impose requirements regarding data analysis and interpretation that differ from those described in this Standard. The operator of the nuclear facility or a licensed activity is responsible for determining what data analysis and interpretation is necessary to ensure compliance with the statutes, regulations, licences, and permits that govern the operation of the nuclear facility or licensed activity.

1.8 Dose assessment

Although one of the objectives of an effluent monitoring program can be to provide the data required to support radiation dose assessments or assessments of exposure to non-radioactive hazardous substances, this Standard does not address dose assessment methods for either humans or non-human biota.

1.9 Reporting

This Standard provides guidance on reporting the results of an effluent monitoring program. However, users are cautioned that the statutes, regulations, licences, and permits that govern the operation of the nuclear facility or licensed activity can impose reporting requirements that differ from those described in this Standard. The operator of the nuclear facility or licensed activity is responsible for determining the required frequency and content of reports to regulatory agencies necessary to ensure compliance with the statutes, regulations, licences, and permits that govern the operation of the nuclear facility or licensed activity.

Note: The CNSC, Metal Mining Effluent Regulations (MMER), National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI), and Municipal/Industrial Strategy for Abatement (MISA) are examples of agencies or programs through which reporting is performed.

1.10 Terminology

In CSA standards, shall is used to express a requirement, i.e., a provision that the user is obliged to satisfy in order to comply with the standard; should is used to express a recommendation or that which is advised but not required; and may is used to express an option or that which is permissible within the limits of the standard.

Notes accompanying clauses do not include requirements or alternative requirements; the purpose of a note accompanying a clause is to separate from the text explanatory or informative material.

Notes to tables and figures are considered part of the table or figure and may be written as requirements.

Annexes are designated normative (mandatory) or informative (nonmandatory) to define their application.