First of all, she identified a number of issues, not unlike in her 2002 report, in which she again identified similar issues. We were aware of those, Mr. Chair. That is in fact why we have increased funding for the Chalk River laboratories in the amount of $250 million in this past fiscal year alone. This is an unprecedented amount. It has never received this amount of money to address issues up there.
With respect to the MAPLE reactors, she did identify those. But I want to make it very clear, Mr. Chair, that these reactors have been under construction since 1996. They have had a number of cost overruns. There have been serious problems with them. These reactors have never operated. They were scheduled to operate many years ago, but they are now not scheduled to operate for at least another year, and possibly much longer. There are still a number of issues to resolving that. The previous government is fully aware of that, as they are the ones who began the construction of these reactors.
My point is that there is nothing in this report based upon which anyone could have anticipated a shutdown of the NRU. The MAPLE reactors, as I have said, are not even on schedule for coming on-line. That is what the Auditor General made reference to in her report.
She also made reference to other regulatory deficiencies that we were fully aware of at Chalk River. This organization has been neglected for up to 15 years and has not received funding. This is something we inherited, and we are putting the money in there at an unprecedented rate to resolve these issues, but they are not connected to the shutdown of the NRU in any way or to medical isotope production.