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News Flash The Ottawa Citizen January 30, 2008 Juliet O'Neill Embattled fired bureaucrat fires back in nuclear disputeOTTAWA - Health Minister Tony Clement belittled Linda Keen's concern for nuclear safety Tuesday, 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. 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 which owns and operates the reactor in Chalk River, Ont. "She got it wrong," Clement told reporters, defending the government's decision to fire 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 international standards cited by 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. 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 Quebecois MPs praised her record and defied claims by Clement and Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn that Parliament also showed a loss of confidence in Keen since all parties passed a law to reopen the AECL reactor in Chalk River, Ont., overriding the commission's concerns. "Some have suggested that the chance of a nuclear accident was low," Keen told MPs. "Well, with respect, 'safe enough' simply isn't good enough." 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. 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 which, for a nuclear facility, should be the same as for a space shuttle or a jumbo jet. "Some may say that the operation of a reactor always carries some risk - and that's true," she said. "But there are carefully established international standards as to what constitutes an acceptable risk. In the case of a nuclear fuel failure, the international standard for acceptable risk is one in a million. The chance of such an event happening at Chalk River, without either of the pumps connected to the emergency power supply was one in a thousand - a thousand times greater than the international standard." A nuclear fuel failure can lead to an escape of radioactivity. It was these statements that AECL disputed in an early-evening release which added: "The safety of the reactor has been endorsed by the CNS (Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission), which has licensed the reactor to operate this way for the past 50 years." Keen accused 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. "I can tell you it was a shock," she told reporters. "I was fired. That's clearly how I felt. And I joined the commission seven years ago to be the president. I was a science manager. I was a science leader. That's why I joined, to have the privilege of running the organization." Clement, was equally vehement in defending the firing decision that has outraged some opposition MPs who feel they were stampeded into passing Bill C-38. One of the backup pumps has since been connected. Fraser would not comment directly on Keen's performance but assured MPs it was right for Parliament to be asked to step in during a dispute between a regulator and a client, in this case AECL, even when the regulator does a perfect job. Asked if the reactor now is operating with an unacceptable level of safety, Keen noted the regulator commission's authority over the connection of pumps was suspended by Bill C-38 for 120 days - until April 10th. As for the rest of the facility, she said, "I am no longer president and have no staff." The AECL statement said the fuel in the reactor is cooled by eight pumps powered from the electrical grid and four pumps have an independent backup power supplies from diesel generators and battery-powered motors on site. Any one of those pumps is enough to cool the reactor if a power outage occurs. The additional backup pumps are designed to withstand "severe seismic activity." Liberal MP Omar Alghabra said the testimony confirmed "that this matter stinks to high heaven, of pure incompetence, of poor mismanagement and of aggressive partisanship." He said the government is putting the responsibility for the commercial success of isotopes on the nuclear regulator. "It's ridiculous." |
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