Nuclear safety commission challenges minister

[CHIMO]

THE CANADIAN PRESS
The head of the Nuclear Safety Commission is accusing Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn of improper interference with the agency.
And in a letter to Lunn, Linda Keen warns that she’ll sue over any attempt by the minister to have her fired.

Keen issued a caustic reply today to a letter Lunn sent her late last month, in which he threatened her termination for refusing to follow a ministerial directive.

“Any objective assessment of the facts will reveal that the allegations contained in your letter are entirely without merit,” Keen wrote in her eight-page reply, posted on the commission website.

http://www.thestar.com/News/article/292066

Independence? Wonder how the insurance companies will look at this?

[daleo]

1. Good for her

Lun's behavior is appalling.

[daleo]

2. After reading Ms. Keen's response to Minister Lunn

Which is 30 some pages, including a detailed attachment, I couldn't help but think there was some interaction between the AECL chairman (a former Reform Party fundraiser) and the government, behind the scenes. It seems like the Nuclear Safety Commission and AECL were co-operating relatively well on this matter, then there seems like a sudden change in the tactics of AECL, in the last few days before the "crisis".

[CHIMO]

3. Auditor cited reactor upgrade as priority

OTTAWA -- "Significant deficiencies" at Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. have been found by Canada's Auditor-General that will require a investment of more than a billion dollars if the corporation is to continue to be a leading source of nuclear research and sales.

Auditor-General Sheila Fraser completed the report last September, but it was only released yesterday under pressure from the opposition Liberals. One of the challenges identified by the report is the upgrade of the aging reactor at Chalk River, Ont., the source of most of the world's medical isotopes, that was shut down for nearly four weeks this fall over safety concerns.

Specifically, she said, the two reactors that were supposed to replace the Chalk River unit are now eight years behind schedule, and the development of a new generation of reactors has been hampered by market conditions, more stringent licensing requirements, cost increases, and the decision by Canada's nuclear regulator to stop providing pre-licensing assessments.

Since the reactor was restarted on Dec. 16, said Brian McGee, AECL's senior vice-president and chief nuclear officer for the Chalk River Laboratories, there have been two minor earthquakes in the region.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080110.NUKE10/TPStory/National

Perhaps attack was because they were in a defensive position after the September report. We have seen lots of that down south in the last few years. Harper is quite thin skinned.

Also we are lucky that Harper talks to the "great one" and made the earthquakes rather minor.

Another item we should keep in mind is the pending purchase of our technology by GE. Harper's free market ideal.

[daleo]

4. This article is misleading about the new reactor designs

"the development of a new generation of reactors has been hampered by market conditions, more stringent licensing requirements, cost increases, and the decision by Canada's nuclear regulator to stop providing pre-licensing assessments."

The big problem with the new reactors (MAPLE) is technological. I have
read that they still have serious engineering problems. I don't recall the details, but it goes something like this - at a certain point during the shut-off processe, where their power output was expected to be decreasing, it is actually increasing, which is obviously dangerous. That's why the old Chalk River reactors are still in service.

This whole "crisis" has been fishy. There is talk that the government wants to privatize (i.e. sell) AECL. If so, they would have good reason to withhold the truth from the public.

"The two MAPLE reactors, designed to produce radioisotopes for medical diagnosis and treatment purposes, were supposed to be delivered for $140-million. Instead, MDS Nordion has invested $304-million to date. AECL refused to provide information on how much it has spent on the project, citing proprietary concerns.

Plans to complete the first of the reactors in 1999 and the second in 2000 have also fallen by the wayside due to major technical difficulties, including serious problems with emergency shutdown systems. In its latest quarterly report, MDS Inc. observed that "AECL continues to advise us that they are cautiously optimistic that the commissioning of the MAPLE reactors will resume later this year.""

http://www.energyprobe.org/energyprobe/index.cfm?DSP=content&ContentID=9864

[CHIMO]

7. I Can't Comment

On the technical problems because I don't know the facts.

However, if you look at the funding shortages it can be surmised that they are being starved.

In the end there is a plan to give away our technology to the highest bidder. In the end we will pay to buy the technology.

[tuvor]

5. National Post: Maybe it's Lunn who should go

Minister's approach made Chalk River worse

OTTAWA -The characteristic sound of a Stephane Dion press conference is the Liberal leader barking up the wrong tree. But he had a point this week when he called for Gary Lunn's head.

The Minister of Natural Resources is in deep ordure over the shutdown of a nuclear reactor at the Chalk River facility, operated by Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., that supplies much of the world's medical isotopes.

The Conservative government has laid the blame for the crisis at the feet of Linda Keen, president of AECL's regulator, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. Prime Minister Stephen Harper said yesterday she was guilty of "needlessly endangering" the lives of Canadians by not allowing the reactor to reopen. In a letter to Ms. Keen, Mr. Lunn asked her to provide him with reasons why she shouldn't be fired.

Ms. Keen, in a lengthy response to Mr. Lunn's letter, revealed the Minister has been generous in sharing the blame around -- in a teleconference last month, he also castigated AECL, saying it had "dropped the ball."

But an audit of AECL's operations by the Auditor-General, released by the nuclear operator late on Wednesday, suggests that Mr. Lunn was well aware of problems at Chalk River, including technical compliance concerns on the part of the CNSC. In this light, if anyone should be fired, perhaps it should be him.

Reading the Auditor's report in conjunction with Ms. Keen's timeline, it suggests a Minister with an attention deficit when it came to the nuclear industry...

http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/columnists/story.html?id=230869

[JBoy]

6. Harper and Lunn's attacks on Keen are obscene.

They are blaming her for ordering the shutdown, when her mandate is strictly regulation from a safety perspective.

If the scenario had turned out differently - let's say that Keen allowed the operation to continue because production of the isotopes was important, despite the CNSC's safety concerns, and then there were an incident, who do you think would be wearing the blame? Keen would probably be facing criminal charges.

She did the right thing. The CNSC had to bring the issue to a head, which caused embarrassment to the government, and now they're trying to make her the scapegoat.

Pathetic display of leadership, Harper. She should sue them.

[CHIMO]

8. AECL FOLO/SHEILA FRASER

Yesterday, the Prime Minister criticized a public servant. In public. And not just any public servant. It was Linda Keen, the chief regulator of the country's nuclear industry.

This was a new chapter in the ongoing saga over Chalk River. When the nuclear safety commission shut down the reactors at that plant because of safety concerns, Atomic Energy of Canada complained to the federal government.

AECL argued that the need to continue producing isotopes for nuclear medicine, without interrupting the supply, outweighed the safety concerns. The Conservative government agreed, and passed a law to overrule the safety commission. The reactors at Chalk River rebooted last month.

A new player has appeared in this political drama: Sheila Fraser, the Auditor General of Canada. She'd filed a report on Atomic Energy of Canada in September, but AECL didn't make it public until this week, following demands from the Liberal party.

http://www.cbc.ca/radioshows/AS_IT_HAPPENS/20080111.shtml

Starts at 14:37 into the part.
http://www.cbc.ca/mrl3/8752/asithappens/20080111-aih-2.wmv

[tuvor]

9. CanWest: Harper government fires Linda Keen over isotope crisis

OTTAWA - The federal government late Tuesday night fired Linda Keen as president of the embattled Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.

In a brief statement before midnight, commission spokesman Aurele Gervais said Keen "has been terminated" as commission president.

Keen's dismissal as president - she is expected to continue sitting as a commissioner - follows a month of increasingly bitter and politicized rancour between Canada's nuclear watchdog and the country's primary nuclear operator, Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd.

(snip)

It's not clear what Keen's firing means to her scheduled appearance this morning before a parliamentary committee investigating the affair.

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=c70b1f37-7efe-46c1-a165-8b0efd4dfcaa&k=22708

[CHIMO]

10. Should Have A Separate Posting

I was going to post but see that you have already captured it.


Head of nuclear watchdog fired


OTTAWA — Linda Keen has been let go as the president of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission amid controversy involving the shutdown of AECL's isotope-producing nuclear reactor last year.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080116.wkeen0116/BNStory/National/home

[tuvor]

11. Don't let me stop you from posting a new thread if you like.

I thought it looked better as a followup to your original post, but maybe your suggestion is the better one.