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Linda Keen's refusal to authorize restarting the aging reactor sparked a critical shortage of medical isotopes and ultimately led to her firing as president of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.

But in her first comments since the Conservative government sacked her late on Jan. 15, a defiant Keen said yesterday that it wasn't her job to weigh the impact of the shutdown on the supply of isotopes. Her only duty, as spelled out in the Nuclear Safety and Control Act, was to ensure nuclear facilities are operated safely.

"Some have suggested that the chance of a nuclear accident was low, that the reactor was safe enough," Keen told the Commons natural resources committee.

"Well, with respect, safe enough simply isn't good enough."

Keen said safety at nuclear facilities must meet the same high standards expected for a space shuttle or jumbo jet. And she insisted that "ignoring safety requirements is simply not an option. Not now. Not ever."

The Chalk River research reactor, which produces more than half the world's supply of isotopes, was closed for a few days on Nov. 18 for routine maintenance. But it wound up staying shut down for almost a month after the commission found it had been operating without a required emergency backup power system for two cooling pumps that prevent the reactor's core from melting down.

Keen said the international standard for acceptable risk in the case of a nuclear fuel failure is one in a million. The chance of an accident at the Chalk River reactor, operating without either of the pumps connected to the emergency power supply, was one in a 1,000.

Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., which owns the reactor, dismissed Keen's assessment of the risk as "erroneous and misleading."

In a statement issued late yesterday, AECL said there is no international standard for fuel failures. Moreover, AECL said the one-in-a-thousand chance of an accident at Chalk River is based on the risk of a severe earthquake knocking out all electrical power plus back-up diesel and battery power at the facility.

Even in a worst-case scenario, in which the reactor coolant boiled away, AECL said the reactor is a small one that operates at low temperature and low pressure. As a result, radiation exposure to workers would be "less than half the radiation exposure received from a CT scan" and public exposure would be even less.

Parliament voted unanimously to override the safety regulator's objections and the reactor was restarted Dec. 16, with one pump hooked up to emergency power. AECL was given 120 days to connect the second pump.

At the time, Prime Minister Stephen Harper boldly asserted there would be no accident at Chalk River. He and Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn argued that the health risk from the lack of isotopes, used in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer and heart ailments, greatly outweighed the remote risk of a nuclear accident. Before introducing emergency legislation on Dec. 11 to override the commission, Keen said Lunn initially seemed to blame AECL for the fiasco. She said he called her on Dec. 5 and said: "I guess AECL has dropped the ball."

Three days later, she said, Lunn called again and then wrote her on Dec. 10 directing her to restart the reactor.

Lunn has denied telling the independent commission what to do, but Keen was adamant: "There is no doubt we were being told what to do and when to do it."

Health Minister Tony Clement, who testified at committee following Keen, insisted the government was right to fire Keen. And, by agreeing to legislation to override the commission, Clement said all MPs endorsed the sacking as well.

"The decision that Parliament made was that Linda Keen ... got it wrong," said Clement. "She failed to balance the risks to the health and safety of Canadians, many of whom required treatment for cancer and cardiac therapies, she failed to balance their needs against the potential for some form of nuclear accident."

But Liberal, NDP and Bloc Quebecois MPs were united in praising Keen for doing her job and accused the government of making her a scapegoat to cover up its own incompetence. Liberal Omar Alghabra went so far as to apologize to Keen for having her reputation "dragged through the mud."

Keen, who still sits on the safety commission, later told reporters she's hired counsel to explore her legal options.

Keen said the watchdog must act independently, and warned that the government's actions are putting a chill through the public service. Auditor General Sheila Fraser, who testified earlier at committee, agreed that the government's decision to fire Keen raises concerns about the independence of regulatory bodies.

"Clearly, I think there are questions that arise around the independence of regulatory bodies, how they are to be dealt with, what is the protocol with government," Fraser said.

"There would certainly seem to be, as a minimum, a lack of clarity around some of this."

Fraser said it's appropriate for Parliament to override an independent regulator when issues arise that are outside the regulator's mandate. But she said that doesn't mean the regulator isn't doing its job.

"The regulator could have done a perfect job, arrived at a decision but there are other factors that have to be taken into account ... and it is not inappropriate that that go to Parliament."

Fraser, who was appointed by the Liberals, also took issue with Harper's characterization of Keen, a career bureaucrat, as a "Liberal appointee."

"To say that I was appointed by a Liberal prime minister is factual. To try to infer from that that I have any partisan leanings, I would take great exception to that," Fraser told the committee.

Opposition parties have blamed the government for failing to anticipate the extended shut-down of the 50-year-old Chalk River reactor. They note that Fraser rang warning bells in an audit of AECL last fall.

But Fraser said yesterday there was nothing in the audit that suggested an extended shutdown of the reactor was likely.

Clement dismissed reports that the government waited until Dec. 10 - 19 days after the reactor first shut down - to seek help from four other reactors around the globe that also produce isotopes.

While there was a conference call on Dec. 10, Clement said he and other officials had spoken to nuclear officials in Belgium and France a couple of days earlier. He said it was determined that the other reactors could not alleviate the isotope shortage, meeting only 10-15 per cent of the demand in Canada.

While the committee rehashed the controversy, the government's decision to override the safety watchdog and fire Keen was coming under fire abroad.

British magazine New Scientist chided Canada in an editorial for "sending out a dangerous message over nuclear safeguards." With AECL exporting its nuclear technology to countries like China, India and Pakistan, the magazine said Canada is signalling that it's OK to compromise public safety in order to keep one of its reactors open.