|
Tuesday, October 7, 2008 |
|
|
|
Temp:
|
9°C
|
|
Feels like:
|
7°C
|
|
Humidity:
|
66%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Nuclear safety watchdog rejected AECL report into isotope controversy: documents |
|
|
|
Written by Steve Rennie, THE CANADIAN PRESS
|
|
Monday, 21 July 2008 |
Related Items
No keywords found
OTTAWA - Canada's nuclear safety watchdog rejected a preliminary report into last year's reactor shutdown that sparked a critical shortage of medical isotopes, say newly released documents.
In the wake of the medical isotope controversy, Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. was supposed to explain why key safety measures were not in place at its research reactor in Chalk River, Ont.
But the federal Crown corporation's January report instead focused on the communications breakdown between AECL and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, say documents obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act.
"CNSC staff had indicated to AECL that the scope statement for the root cause assessment that was submitted on Jan. 7, 2008 was unacceptable," says a review of the report.
"CNSC staff is not sure why AECL changed its scope statement to focus entirely on communications."
The nuclear safety regulator wanted AECL to explain why an earthquake-resistant emergency power supply wasn't connected to the aging National Research Universal reactor's two most crucial heavy water pumps.
In December 2005, AECL had declared that all safety upgrades made to the NRU reactor were "fully operational" - neglecting to mention that the back-up emergency power supply wasn't connected.
The issue came to light last November while the NRU reactor was closed for a few days for routine maintenance. The commission ordered the NRU to be shut down after discovering it had been operating without the backup power system for the two pumps, which keep the reactor's core from melting down.
The shutdown led to a critical international shortage of medical isotopes used in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer and heart ailments. Parliament voted to bypass the order of the safety regulator and the reactor was restarted Dec. 16.
The Conservative government subsequently fired then-commission head Linda Keen for her refusal to authorize the restart.
The nuclear safety commission also wanted AECL to explain in its January report why it was "acceptable" to operate the reactor without the emergency power supply connected.
The scope of AECL's January report was agreed on in an email exchange last December, according to a briefing note for the then-interim head of the nuclear regulator.
But AECL broadened the report's scope without telling the nuclear safety regulator, the Jan. 24, 2008, briefing note says, and instead focused on communications problems.
"CNSC has done an initial review of this report and found it to be lacking in details and the scope was different than what was expected," it says.
AECL spokesman Dale Coffin says the commission never told the Crown corporation, which owns the reactor, that the January report was unacceptable.
AECL officials told the nuclear safety regulator at a public meeting held two days after the report was delivered that a second, more detailed analysis was forthcoming, Coffin said.
"As we started to do our root cause analysis, we started to identify new areas that we hadn't anticipated that should have been part of the scope. We broadened the investigation to include a phase two," he said.
Coffin added that he did not know if AECL told the commission it intended to broaden the report's scope and deliver a second one later.
However, AECL's second report, which recently appeared in media reports, doesn't seem much different than the first one. It also appears to dwell on the communications meltdown between AECL and the nuclear safety regulator.
The commission was not immediately available to comment.
Meanwhile, a separate report by independent consultant Talisman International is expected to focus on problems between the nuclear watchdog and AECL. Coffin wouldn't say when that report will be released.
Liberal MP Omar Alghabra, the party's natural resources critic, says blaming communications issues is a scapegoat for more systemic problems.
"The less controversial way is to blame bureaucracy or levels of communication rather than accept responsibility or offer substantive changes," he said.
The federal government is reviewing AECL to determine the future of the Crown corporation, which employs 4,800 people. Some have speculated it may be spun off into private hands or sold to a foreign company.
In May, AECL announced plans to scrap development of its two MAPLE medical-isotope reactors after pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into the failed nuclear project.
MDS Inc., which has an exclusive 40-year contract with AECL to buy isotopes, is now suing the company and the federal government for $1.6 billion for abandoning the two MAPLE reactors.
AECL has said it will instead rely on the 51-year-old NRU reactor that produces half the world's supply of medical isotopes at its Chalk River laboratories.
 |
|
Last Updated ( Sunday, 07 September 2008 )
|
|
|
Who's Online
We have 143 guests and 9 members online
|
|
|
|
Subscribe to this comment's feed
