Thank you again for the question.
You asked in the previous question who has the responsibility for determining the licensing basis of a facility, and I answered that it was CNSC staff. So too, then, when the CNSC staff advise me that they believe I'm outside my licensing basis, even though they acknowledge that the reactor is still operating safely.... When I'm outside my licensing basis I have really no choice but to respond to that, both from a legal perspective and as well from a professional perspective, because of the respect I have for their opinion.
This industry is based on everybody being open to challenge, on a questioning attitude. We spend enormous effort training our people and developing a culture in the industry around everybody's being open to challenge and having to have a questioning attitude. So when people with the professional credentials and competency of the CNSC staff say to me, “We think you're outside your licensing basis”, I have to take that seriously and to respond appropriately. And I did: I kept the reactor shut down.
Subsequently, as a matter of testimony, it was made clear, including on December 6, that if we hadn't kept it shut down, the CNSC would have given us an order to shut it down. That's the nuance around this. It's very clear that if we hadn't kept it shut down, we would have been told to keep it shut down.