Evidence of meeting #4 for Natural Resources in the 40th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was public.
A recording is available from Parliament.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
You've had no conversations with government officials at any level about the preparation for AECL for sale.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Atomic Energy of Canada Limited
I have only been consulted in the most informal of ways. I've not been asked for my advice. And it is indeed a project that is within the purview of the minister and the Department of Natural Resources as opposed to AECL.
NDP
President and Chief Executive Officer, Atomic Energy of Canada Limited
Tritium is clearly a substance that needs to be managed, contained, and released in appropriate quantities in a controlled fashion.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
So it's dangerous. It potentially causes cancer and it potentially has harmful effects on humans.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Atomic Energy of Canada Limited
I will defer to what I heard in the testimony earlier with respect to the danger of tritium. It's a substance that needs to be controlled. I can't personally give you a quantum.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Does AECL have a policy that says tritium is a dangerous substance?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Atomic Energy of Canada Limited
We clearly treat it as a substance that is radioactive and needs to be--
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
I don't want to assign any language to what “danger” means or not, but you treat it like a dangerous substance.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Atomic Energy of Canada Limited
We treat it like a radioactive substance.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Does it bioaccumulate? With exposure, does it sit within the human body and accumulate over time?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Atomic Energy of Canada Limited
That is a question I'm not personally qualified to answer.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Atomic Energy of Canada Limited
I don't know if my chief nuclear officer can answer it, but I can't.
Senior Vice-President and Chief Nuclear Officer, Atomic Energy of Canada Limited
I would give something of a layman's perspective and note the fact that generally tritium has a relatively short stay time in the human body.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Do we know this for a fact? I'm assuming. You folks produce this stuff, right? It's considered dangerous in many circles. Over time, people living in the vicinity of a reactor are exposed to higher levels than if they weren't living near a reactor. I'm assuming the agency has some sort of perspective as to whether this thing is dangerous. You'd be opening yourselves to all sorts of litigation. I'm confused by that.
Senior Vice-President and Chief Nuclear Officer, Atomic Energy of Canada Limited
First of all, I believe you're mixing several items here. Let me start at the back and say that all of our releases are controlled and monitored and they all fall orders of magnitude below regulatory limits. That's the start.
The second piece is that tritium is a radioisotope, it is hazardous, so in the workplace we treat it as a hazardous material. We monitor levels and provide protection for workers if they have to work in environments with significant tritium levels.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Leon Benoit
Thank you, Mr. Cullen. Your time is more than up.
Mr. Allen, you have up to seven minutes, please.
Conservative
Mike Allen Conservative Tobique—Mactaquac, NB
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank you gentlemen for being here today.
For clarification I want to follow that line of questioning we were just on. My understanding, based on the questions that were put to the CNSC and everything before, is that tritium emissions are not new. This happens all the time and it's part of the regular process of the reactor. The leak we're talking about was two pinholes, as Mr. Pilkington said. It was self-contained within the reactor itself and there was no risk whatsoever to humans based on that leak. Is that true?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Atomic Energy of Canada Limited
That is correct. Maybe the chief nuclear officer, as the executive responsible, should have a say as well.
February 24th, 2009 / 5:10 p.m.
Senior Vice-President and Chief Nuclear Officer, Atomic Energy of Canada Limited
Yes, that is correct. You're speaking of the latest leak, which occurred this past weekend.
Conservative
Mike Allen Conservative Tobique—Mactaquac, NB
Right, but the tritium levels that are normal have been a normal course of operation at the Chalk River reactor for eons, right?
Senior Vice-President and Chief Nuclear Officer, Atomic Energy of Canada Limited
Yes, the total amount of tritium that would have been released as a result of the event on the weekend was initially estimated to be about 18 kilograms, and with more refined calculations we determined that it was in the order of 11 kilograms. That's 11 kilograms of heavy water that would have been released through the ventilation system. That was in fact monitored, recorded, and will be reported.
Conservative
Mike Allen Conservative Tobique—Mactaquac, NB
Following that, there's also tritium that's released as a normal course without any leaks. Is that correct?
Senior Vice-President and Chief Nuclear Officer, Atomic Energy of Canada Limited
That's correct. A facility like Chalk River has a low chronic level of tritium release, both through the ventilation system and through the liquid effluents that are treated in our waste treatment centre and released. That is correct.