I have to tell you, in answering this question, that I'm not privy to any special knowledge about the inner workings of MDS Nordion, but I did look at the communications they have been sending out over the last year or so.
In March of 2007, for example, they sent a letter to their clients, the people who purchased the isotopes, saying that they could be assured that the production would be ramped up and that it would be very reliable. I looked for other letters, other indications of a public nature, that Nordion may have been giving a full picture to clients--that because we're depending on a 50-year-old reactor there could be a possibility of breakdown, or at least that we are cooperating with other suppliers in order to ensure that there will be a supply in case there is an unexpected shutdown.
When you have a 50-year-old reactor--even new reactors, as we have now--and you shut down for maintenance, it's always possible that it ends up being a lot longer than you expect. This is happening right now in Gentilly, in Quebec. The shutdown is weeks longer than originally anticipated.
I think it's only prudent to have those arrangements in place and to have those alternative supplies ready to go, and to be able to notify people ahead of time. From what I've been able to perceive from my limited perspective of just gathering information that's public, I don't see any indication of any of that.
From reading the transcripts of the CNSC meetings, I am also struck by the fact that what we really have here is a rather persistent failure to communicate the whole truth. It would have been very simple I think for AECL, when it said the updates had all been satisfied, to add that there were a few things undone, and to list what those undone things were.
I think it's revealing, in fact, that Mr. McGee mentioned that the communication is primarily with the staff rather than with the commissioners. But the commissioners are the ones who are really challenged to make the decisions. I think the important thing is that the commissioners be properly informed. They, not the staff, are the ones who have the responsibility of making these decisions.