Accessibility and Access Keys [0]
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper ratcheted up his government’s attack on the head of the country’s nuclear regulatory agency Thursday, saying her refusal to allow the restart of the Chalk River reactor had put Canada’s health system in jeopardy.
Parliament was forced to pass emergency legislation last month to ensure “the Canadian medical system was not needlessly endangered by decisions made by the president of the nuclear commission,” Mr. Harper told reporters in New Brunswick.
The Conservative government has threatened to fire Linda Keen, president of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, over the nearly four-week shut-down of the reactor last fall that cut the supply of medial isotopes to health facilities across North America.
Opposition MPs say the person who should lose his job is Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn. They agree with Ms. Keen who has accused Mr. Lunn of improperly interfering with the independence of her commission.
But Mr. Harper defended his minister Thursday, telling reporters that Mr. Lunn and other cabinet ministers were “acting beyond the normal call of duty” in trying to get the reactor back in business. Then he fired another round at Ms. Keen.
When “Parliament actually has to overturn the decision of the nuclear commission, unanimously … I think to label that kind of action illicit troubles me greatly,” he said.
“I’m very troubled by the response of the president of the nuclear commission because this is an incident that should never have happened and cannot be contemplated in the future.”
Mr. Harper was also asked about a newly released report of the Auditor-General of Canada that says Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. – the Crown corporation that operates Canada’s nuclear reactors – is facing a money crunch that will make it difficult to tackle key problems, including a refurbishment of the Chalk River facilities, about 180 kilometres northwest of Ottawa.
“The fact is the minister and government have been aware for some time of the long-term financial and managerial challenges that exist at AECL,” Mr. Harper said. “These are very serious problems that have developed over a very long period of time. There are no short-term solutions.”
Hugh MacDiarmid, who became president of AECL this week, filling a post that has been vacant for more than two months, said in a telephone interview that the company welcomed the report and considered the findings accurate.
Auditor-General Sheila Fraser’s report said that more than $1-billion would be needed to retrofit the Chalk River unit, completing two replacement reactors and developing a new reactor for the Canadian and foreign markets.
Mr. MacDiarmid suggested that her findings would help to determine how much money the corporation would be asking from the government.
“We are at a stage where we are just now getting to the process of submitting budgets for the next fiscal year and it’s certainly our intention that we are going to be proposing and recommending the level of funding we need to achieve our mission,” Mr. MacDiarmid said. “Addressing and resolving these three issues [identified by Ms. Fraser] is clearly part of that mandate.”
Even with added funding, there will still be challenges for the Crown corporation. Although the two new reactors at Chalk River – Maple 1 and Maple 2 – were supposed to be on stream eight years ago, they remain unfinished and Mr. MacDiarmid said there is no end date or cost projection associated with that project.
Much work also needs to be done on the many buildings at Chalk River, some of which do not meet modern fire codes.
The report, which was given to ACEL on Sept. 5, was not released publicly until Wednesday at the prodding of the opposition Liberals. Mr. MacDiarmid said AECL was waiting for his arrival and that of Glenna Carr, the new chair of the board of directors.
It is unclear when Mr. Lunn first saw the report because he was unavailable for comment on the matter again Thursday. He did, however, issue a news release saying the government agreed with Ms. Fraser’s findings.
With a report from The Canadian Press
Globe and Mail