This bill is from the 39th Parliament, 2nd session, which ended in September 2008.
Gary Lunn Conservative
This bill has received Royal Assent and is now law.
This is from the published bill.
This enactment permits Atomic Energy of Canada Limited to resume and continue the operation of the National Research Universal Reactor at Chalk River in Ontario for a period of 120 days despite certain conditions of its licence under the Nuclear Safety and Control Act.
All sorts of information on this bill is available at LEGISinfo, an excellent resource from the Library of Parliament. You can also read the full text of the bill.
Bill numbers are reused for different bills each new session. Perhaps you were looking for one of these other C-38s:
An Act to permit the resumption and continuation of the operation of the National Research Universal Reactor at Chalk RiverGovernment Orders
December 11th, 2007 / 9:55 p.m.
Bloc
Marcel Lussier Bloc Brossard—La Prairie, QC
Mr. Chair, when the Chalk River reactor is shut down for four days, do all the clients still manage to get their isotope products?
An Act to permit the resumption and continuation of the operation of the National Research Universal Reactor at Chalk RiverGovernment Orders
December 11th, 2007 / 9:55 p.m.
Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer and President for the Research and Technology Division AECL
Mr. Chair, this is correct. The isotope has a 67 hour half-life. Therefore we are able to meet the market requirements, but we have to of course realize there are also other supplies throughout the world and not all the reactors go down at the same time for scheduled maintenance.
An Act to permit the resumption and continuation of the operation of the National Research Universal Reactor at Chalk RiverGovernment Orders
December 11th, 2007 / 9:55 p.m.
Bloc
Marcel Lussier Bloc Brossard—La Prairie, QC
Mr. Chair, the Chalk River reactor produces Tc-99 and Cobalt-60. In addition to its medical uses, Cobalt-60 is used for sterilizing food. Does that mean that clients who use Cobalt-60 currently do not have any other supplier?
An Act to permit the resumption and continuation of the operation of the National Research Universal Reactor at Chalk RiverGovernment Orders
December 11th, 2007 / 9:55 p.m.
Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer and President for the Research and Technology Division AECL
Mr. Chair, Cobalt-60 has a much longer half-life. Therefore when we make the Cobalt-60, it stays around for several years. Therefore, we have a good supply of cobalt. Cobalt is a wonderful material as was mentioned. It can sterilize food. It can sterilize medical supplies. It can provide cancer therapy. One of the most exciting new applications of this is what is called the gamma knife, so it is knifeless surgery.
It is an important product, but it has a long half-life, so being down for a while does not affect the supply.
An Act to permit the resumption and continuation of the operation of the National Research Universal Reactor at Chalk RiverGovernment Orders
December 11th, 2007 / 9:55 p.m.
Bloc
Marcel Lussier Bloc Brossard—La Prairie, QC
Mr. Chair, I now have a question for the Minister of Health. Why is there no plan B to solve the problem of the Chalk River shutdown?
An Act to permit the resumption and continuation of the operation of the National Research Universal Reactor at Chalk RiverGovernment Orders
December 11th, 2007 / 9:55 p.m.
Conservative
Tony Clement Conservative Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON
Mr. Chair, I would like to say there is a plan under normal circumstances.
I have said before that we were under the impression, as everyone else was, that there are regular shutdowns of the facility for, in my non-nuclear terms, maintenance or double-checking and so on.
We were first told that there was an elongation of this shutdown on December 5. From our perspective, that is when we kicked into action in order to see what could be done given that there was an unscheduled shutdown for a longer period of time.
As our visitors have suggested, when there is a half-life of 67 hours, there is not the ability to stockpile. That is the source of the critical situation in which we find ourselves.
An Act to permit the resumption and continuation of the operation of the National Research Universal Reactor at Chalk RiverGovernment Orders
December 11th, 2007 / 9:55 p.m.
Bloc
Marcel Lussier Bloc Brossard—La Prairie, QC
Mr. Chair, it was mentioned that the Chalk River reactor provided between 60% and 70% of medical isotopes worldwide. That is what was said. At present, who are the other suppliers capable of providing the remaining 30% to 40%?
An Act to permit the resumption and continuation of the operation of the National Research Universal Reactor at Chalk RiverGovernment Orders
December 11th, 2007 / 9:55 p.m.
Senior Vice President and Chief Nuclear Officer
Mr. Chair, I do not have an exact list of all the suppliers, but there are reactors in Europe. They do not have the capacity that NRU does. There is a reactor in South Africa, but again, it does not have the same capacity, based on our market intelligence, I guess we could say, that NRU does. There is a small reactor in Australia as well.
Most of those reactors provide supply through a different company than the supply chain-value chain that we work with, but the bottom line is that they do not have the capacity to make up the market demand. I think that in a free system they would be doing it right now if they did.
An Act to permit the resumption and continuation of the operation of the National Research Universal Reactor at Chalk RiverGovernment Orders
Conservative
Tony Clement Conservative Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON
Mr. Chair, for the accuracy and completeness of the record, I am aware of five production facilities worldwide: NRU in Canada; BR2 in Belgium; HFR Osiris in France; HFR Petten in Netherlands; and Safari-1 in South Africa.
An Act to permit the resumption and continuation of the operation of the National Research Universal Reactor at Chalk RiverGovernment Orders
Bloc
Marcel Lussier Bloc Brossard—La Prairie, QC
Were these five suppliers called to determine if they could provide these isotopes?
An Act to permit the resumption and continuation of the operation of the National Research Universal Reactor at Chalk RiverGovernment Orders
Conservative
Tony Clement Conservative Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON
The problem is world demand. If NRU is not operating, everyone turns to the other reactors to meet demand. I believe that the South African reactor is now in a regular shutdown. That is the problem. That is the challenge for everyone.
An Act to permit the resumption and continuation of the operation of the National Research Universal Reactor at Chalk RiverGovernment Orders
Conservative
An Act to permit the resumption and continuation of the operation of the National Research Universal Reactor at Chalk RiverGovernment Orders
Bloc
An Act to permit the resumption and continuation of the operation of the National Research Universal Reactor at Chalk RiverGovernment Orders
Conservative
An Act to permit the resumption and continuation of the operation of the National Research Universal Reactor at Chalk RiverGovernment Orders
Bloc
Christiane Gagnon Bloc Québec, QC
Mr. Chair, my question is for the Minister of Health. If the reactor is not brought back on line, what does that mean for public health?
I think the question we have to answer is this: what are the risks for the population? We need to know so that we have a good understanding of the impact on public health. What could happen? For example, are there any existing reserves? Will the reserves really be used up in the next few days? We need an answer to that question, too, to evaluate the situation. We have to take that into account.
Clearly, the members of Parliament are torn. I would like to address my question to the Minister of Health. The point of the bill is to address a problem, to deal with the fact that Atomic Energy of Canada Limited is not complying with the standards it should be complying with under the terms of its licence. Can the minister explain why this bill was introduced today?
