The Real Scandal

Last November, a nuclear reactor in Chalk River, ON, producing two-thirds of the word’s medical isotopes was forced to shut down by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. The Commission, which regulates the industry, discovered that the reactor had been operating for 17 months without a battery-operated starter on the pumps, which left it vulnerable to overheating during a disaster such as an earthquake.

The closure has been felt across the globe, denying hundreds of thousands of patients the access to key medical tests that could determine whether they live or die. Acting to resolve the crisis, parliament invoked an emergency sitting last week and decided to give Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., the Crown Corporation that operated the reactor, an eighteen month window to install the starter pumps.

The decision was certainly debatable. The government was stuck between a rock and a hard place and had to balance the safety of the Chalk River residents with the medical urgency of restoring the mast production of isotopes. An expert in probability theory would probably feel they took the right decision, but I still wouldn’t want to be living anywhere near Chalk River.

The real scandal though, has little to do with parliamentarians and much to do with the foolish appointees whom they throw into Crown corporations as a gift for many years of service. The Safety Commission told AECL 17 months ago that their reactor needed renovations. Yet the Crown corporation, headed by a past conservative riding association president, did nothing to avoid an inevitable closure that would threaten millions across the planet.

AECL is a nuclear technology Crown Corporation. It has a duty to operate wisely and safely as any accident could have consequences felt across the continent. This is not the place for a puppet, and the current head had luckily submitted his resignation yesterday.

By placing nuclear novices at the head of one of AECL, the government is making a fool of itself. and putting the safety of Canadians at risk.