RE: [cdn-nucl-l] Urgent enough to restart?

CREDIT: John Major, The Ottawa Citizen

Aerial view of the Atomic Energy plant in Chalk River.

OTTAWA - The federal Liberals have accused the Harper government of putting the safety of Canadians at risk by attempting to force the premature start-up of a nuclear reactor that produces an isotope used for medical diagnoses.

"The government solution to the crisis is apparently to lower nuclear standards and hand the matter over to AECL without any oversight," Liberal MP Omar Alghabra told the Commons Tuesday. "Will the minister, or the prime minister for that matter, tell Canadians what will happen if there is a nuclear accident? Who will be responsible? Will it be the prime minister?"

The Liberal Opposition was reacting to a government announcement that it would introduce "urgent" legislation ensuring the resumption of operations at the Crown-owned Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. facility, overriding safety concerns of the nuclear regulatory authority.

Although the government wanted to push the legislation through the Commons quickly with all-party consent, the Liberals said they opposed the measure. They feared that the reactor, at Chalk River, Ont., is unsafe and requires more upgrades.

"Mr. Speaker, there will be no nuclear accident but what there will be is a growing crisis in the medical system here in Canada and around the world if the Liberal party continues to support the regulator, obstructing this reactor from coming back online," Prime Minister Stephen Harper said.

"This is essential. It is in the public interest. It is necessary for Canadians' public health. The Liberal party can cast around all the blame they want on AECL, that is fine, but they should stop blocking the best of interests of Canadians' health."

The reactor was shut down Nov. 18 for upgrades, which included connecting pumps to a power supply that would be secure in the event of an earthquake. AECL has been waiting for parts and material to complete the project, creating a critical, worldwide shortage of the radioactive diagnostic material.

In a joint letter to Linda Keene, president of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, which is the regulatory authority, government ministers on Monday questioned the repairs proposed by the agency.

"We . . . seek an urgent explanation of why you believe it to be essential that both earthquake-proof power backup units be made operational immediately . . . as opposed to a more orderly upgrade process that might take, at most, a few extra weeks, but which would allow isotope production to resume uninterrupted," the letter said.

In a response Tuesday, Keene replied that "the commission has serious concerns regarding the safety of the 50-year-old NRU reactor when its former licence was due to expire. When the commission considered the licence renewal application in spring 2006, it seriously questioned the safety of the NRU.

"As concerns the safety of the NRU reactor, under its current licence conditions, the commission requires AECL to have all safety upgrades in place in order to operate safely under its licence.

"Each upgrade has a specific purpose; however, it is the integrated operation of all the upgrades that allows the critical safety functions to be delivered," Keene wrote.

"These pumps are required to provide essential safety assurance and are not just in place for earthquakes, but for all external design basis events. If AECL has additional evidence to support a different position, they are aware of the process to submit this information for evaluation by the CNSC staff."