Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will be sharing my time with the member for Brant.
The type of question I'm going to be asked will be about redundancy or even continuance of supply. I wonder if new and improved technologies that were being developed as a cross between Chalk River or MAPLE, utilizing that barrel-sized reactor, could be developed. And how long would it take for financing approval, design, and construction?
Are there any obvious sites in the country besides Chalk River that have all the factors, such as water, power supply, existing medical and research capabilities, and transportation linkages? Would MDS itself be interested, seeing as it's already in the business and has innumerable connections, esoteric experience, and market development? Would you yourselves be interested in partnering, or would you just want to have a monopoly in production if such was the case?
You've already invested $350 million. Do you have any proprietary rights to any of that knowledge? And could it be applied to another option, say, in the future?
I have just one quick question after that. Has disposal of spent material at Chalk River or MAPLE been a serious factor in any decision to conclude this?