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Health Minister Tony Clement belittled Linda Keen’s concern for nuclear safety yesterday, within an hour of the fired nuclear watchdog saying a reactor shut for an upgrade in November posed a safety risk 1,000 times greater than the international standard.
Ms. Keen’s assertions about a safety risk, during her first public appearance since her firing two weeks ago as president of the nuclear safety commission, also were denounced as “erroneous and misleading” by Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., the Crown corporation that owns and operates the reactor in Chalk River.
“She got it wrong,” Mr. Clement told reporters, defending the government’s decision to fire Ms. Keen for not putting medical isotope production ahead of installing backup pumps to protect against potential radioactive leaks in the event of an earthquake.
“When you balance the health and safety of Canadians versus the possibility of an earthquake never seen in the Ottawa Valley in human history, she got it wrong.”
AECL said standards cited by Ms. Keen during testimony at the House of Commons natural resources committee do not exist. It said even in the “worst-case scenario” of a severe earthquake right under the reactor, the radiation exposure to workers would be less than half received from a CT scan and exposure to the public would be less than half received during a cardiovascular diagnostic treatment.
Ms. Keen, assuring MPs she has received a lot of personal support from other regulators and public servants, told reporters she was “shocked” the government stripped her of the presidency of the Nuclear Safety Commission after seven years.
She delivered a spirited defence of her actions to the committee, where Liberal and Bloc Québécois MPs praised her record and defied claims by Mr. Clement and Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn that Parliament also showed a loss of confidence in Ms. Keen since all parties passed a law to reopen the AECL reactor in Chalk River, overriding the commission’s concerns.
“Some have suggested that the chance of a nuclear accident was low,” Ms. Keen told MPs. “Well, with respect, ‘safe enough’ simply isn’t good enough.”
Mr. Clement faced a barrage of opposition questions about why the government did not have alternative isotope supplies lined up from Europe and South Africa. He said South African production was also cut and Europeans could only provide 10 to 15 per cent of isotopes needed in Canada, where supplies had dropped by 65 per cent.
Their testimony followed that of Auditor General Sheila Fraser, who told MPs a federal government “strategy for nuclear energy” is years overdue and Crown-owned Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., lacks a clear mandate and direction. AECL’s corporate plan had not been approved for seven years by the current Conservative or two previous Liberal governments.
Ms. Keen testified the 50-year-old reactor would not be licensable today by any nuclear regulator anywhere in the world and the extension of a routine maintenance shutdown in November to install two backup pumps was aimed at heightening safety standards that, for a nuclear facility, should be the same as for a space shuttle or a jumbo jet.
Ms. Keen accused Mr. Lunn of “stepping over the line” by calling her at home on a Saturday afternoon to direct her to get the reactor reopened and told how taken aback she was to be fired late at night, after 10 p.m., on the eve of her scheduled testimony to the committee.