Mr. Chair, let me start by saying that the decision to keep the reactor in a shutdown state was the only safe and prudent decision available to me at the time based on the opinion of the CNSC staff that I was outside the licensing basis with the facility.
If I had chosen at that point to restart the reactor, I would have been charged with a licence violation. I should not presuppose what the enforcement activity would have been, but I would have been exposed to enforcement activity.
From a safety perspective, I have to respect the staff's opinion and understand more clearly what the status is. I think everyone heard me say earlier in testimony that we now believe that we were not and are not outside the licensing basis. However, at that point in time I made the only safe and prudent decision, out of respect for the opinion of professionals in the CNSC staff. Until I could adequately disposition that opinion I had to take action to remain shut down both from a prudent perspective as well as a legal perspective.