The performance-based approach to the regulation of nuclear power generation for civilian use is an approach that requires a certain outcome but provides the regulated entity with the flexibility to determine how it can achieve this outcome.1 Such an approach is currently being employed, for example, in Canada, France and the United Kingdom. While some have argued that “significant work remains to be done before performance-based approaches can realize their full potential in the regulation of nuclear power plants”,2 a limited number of analyses have been dedicated to the approach.3 The author was thus inspired to share Canadian expertise in this area, as well as a description of the approach developed in Canada in recent decades.