In Canada, Class II Nuclear Facilities and Prescribed Equipment are regulated in accordance with the Class II Nuclear Facilities and Prescribed Equipment Regulations under the Nuclear Safety and Control Act (NSCA). 

• Class II Nuclear Facilities
• Change in CNSC policy on particle accelerators
• Prescribed Equipment
• Licensing
• Radiation Safety Officers
• Compliance Activities

TRIUMF's Cyclotron at the University of British Columbia

Class II Nuclear Facilities

Class II nuclear facilities include the prescribed equipment, the building (or parts of a building) housing the equipment, as well as any ancillary equipment needed for operation.

• View the licensing requirements for Class II nuclear facilities
• View the interactive map of all Class II facilities

Change in CNSC policy on particle accelerators

The CNSC has changed its policy concerning the regulation of low energy particle acceleratorsand will now begin regulating accelerators operating at or above 1 MeV.

Prescribed equipment

The following prescribed equipment is regulated under the Class II Nuclear Facilities and Prescribed Equipment Regulations:

• any irradiator that uses or contains more than 10¹⁵ Becquerels of a nuclear substance
• any irradiator that requires a shielded enclosure (that is not part of the irradiator itself), and that can deliver a dose of radiation in excess of 1 cGy/min at a distance of 1m
• any radioactive-source teletherapy machine
• any particle accelerator that is capable of producing nuclear energy, and has a beam energy of less than 50 MeV for beams of particles with a mass less than or equal to 4 amu
• any particle accelerator that is capable of producing nuclear energy, and has a beam energy of less than 15 MeV for beams of particles with a mass greater than 4 amu
• any brachytherapy remote afterloader

View the Certification Requirements of Class II Prescribed Equipment.

View the current list of CNSC Certified Class II Prescribed Equipment (PDF).

The servicing of prescribed equipment is also a licensed activity in Canada. Servicing is defined as any maintenance of the equipment, including installation, repair or dismantling, other than routine operation procedures as indicated in the manufacturer’s operating manual for the equipment, or as authorized in the licence issued for possession or use of the equipment. If you wish to perform servicing activities in Canada, you must obtain the proper licence to services from the CNSC.

View the licensing requirements for the servicing of prescribed equipment (RD/GD-207).

Licensing

In Canada, activities relating to Class II prescribed equipment must be licensed by the CNSC. This includes construction, operation, decommissioning and servicing. .

Radiation Safety Officers

The CNSC also certifies Radiation Safety Officers who are responsible for any Class II licensed activity. For more information on the certification of Radiation Safety Officers, please contact your CNSC licensing officer or contact the CNSC at info@cnsc-ccsn.gc.ca

Compliance activities

The CNSC has a number of tools at its disposal to ensure that licensees are in compliance with the Act, regulations, and their licence conditions. Read more about Compliance Activities for Class II Nuclear Facilities and Prescribed Equipment.