Public Accounts committee  I think I recall that the overall percentage of women in our organization is 40%.

Public Accounts committee  It was a bit before my time. I wasn't involved in it. However, it's absolutely clear now. Who decides whether it's safe or not safe is the responsibility of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. That's not AECL's role. We certainly are interested, and every day we are out looking at the operations to ensure—

Public Accounts committee  No, that would be the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. The first responsibility resides with CNL. They're the ones responsible, by their licence, to operate the facility safely and protect the environment and the workers. The first step of that responsibility is with CNL. We expect and demand and monitor that they're exercising that responsibility.

Public Accounts committee  I think we're maybe getting wrapped around the word “risk”. The risk register that is referred to is really around a business risk. It does have health and safety as one of the risks, but there are other risks in terms of running this as a business and running it as a contract.

Public Accounts committee  I can't tell you if all of them were. I can tell you that, when the process is done, every one will be addressed, and that's just part of the process. In terms of the comments or questions around disposition. That is part of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission process. It's a very systematic and robust process, so if there are any questions, CNL would be expected to provide a detailed, written response on whatever the questions were.

Public Accounts committee  In terms of the design, if you actually looked at it, if and when we have approval to build a facility at Chalk River, the average person wouldn't be able to tell the difference. The facilities are simply highly engineered and designed. They have multiple layers of material which prevents any radioactive material from getting into the environment.

Public Accounts committee  The benefits have been seen across the world, because Canada did a great job of going out and saying, “Here's what our situation is with the lab. What are other countries doing? What has been working?” I would argue that the GOCO model that is being implemented in Canada is truly a Canadian GOCO model.

Public Accounts committee  Well, I'm sorry if I left that impression. It probably wasn't the best term to use. What I really wanted to express is that the status of the Chalk River site has significantly improved in terms of the rest of the world understanding it, understanding what its mission is, and recognizing that it is now in the process of being revitalized.

Public Accounts committee  Because it's a Canadian liability.

Public Accounts committee  First of all, we are aware of the proximity to the river. In the analysis of the site, the strategy was, again, to minimize the transport of the material. That was the strategy laid out to try to site the facility, which is done very frequently across the world with these types of sites, to have the site at the facilities so you're not transporting this material all over the place.

Public Accounts committee  I think it has been over 60 years.

Public Accounts committee  I'm told it has been 70 years.

Public Accounts committee  Yes.

Public Accounts committee  I think the question is, is AECL aware of that? Absolutely. We very closely monitor the concerns that are being raised. We are very aware of those.

Public Accounts committee  Yes, thank you. There is a detailed plan that exists. It has existed for at least probably 10 years, but don't quote me on that. It lays out a long-term plan. I think it ends in about 70 years, and it has estimates on the amount of waste and cost. I think more relevant is the 10-year plan that we have worked on with CNL.