FEDERAL – The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) needs to improve its paperwork regarding safety inspections of its nuclear plants, according to a report released by the Auditor General of Canada on Oct. 4. The audit, one of five recently carried out by the federal government on different industries, found that the regulator had failed to document its planning decisions sufficiently and could not show that it had an adequate, risk-informed process for plant inspections. The CNSC also did not always adhere to its own inspection procedures or issue final reports on corrections of regulatory violations on time, according to the audit report, which noted that 75 per cent of the Commission’s inspections had not used an approved guide. “This kind of lack of precision in a precision industry, I think, is really not acceptable,” said Environment and Sustainable Development Commissioner Julie Gelfand at an Ottawa press conference, a video of which is available online. “These mistakes should not happen when we’re dealing with nuclear power plants.” A CSNC news release, dated Oct. 4, stated that the regulator accepted the audit’s findings. “I have always welcomed peer reviews, international benchmarking, audits and evaluations as part of our commitment to continuous improvement,” said CNSC President and CEO Dr. Michael Binder in a press statement, adding that the Commission would address all of the report’s findings by the end of March.