Mr. Chair, I rise on a point of order. I wonder if we could receive unanimous consent to go to five minute rounds, even if we had to do multiple questions to try to speed up the process.
House of Commons photoLost his last election, in 2011, with 36% of the vote.
An Act to permit the resumption and continuation of the operation of the National Research Universal Reactor at Chalk River December 11th, 2007
Mr. Chair, I rise on a point of order. I wonder if we could receive unanimous consent to go to five minute rounds, even if we had to do multiple questions to try to speed up the process.
An Act to permit the resumption and continuation of the operation of the National Research Universal Reactor at Chalk River December 11th, 2007
Mr. Chair, not only has AECL repeatedly given us its assurances that it can operate the NRU as safely or more safely than it was operating before, but under no circumstances would AECL ever operate the reactor if it believed for a second that it could not be done safely.
I believe we have also in testimony tonight the acknowledgement from the CNSC technical person that in fact if the NRU were to operate today, it would be even safer than it was when it was operating on November 18.
With that, I think we have come to a conclusion. I, too, want to give my thanks to all the witnesses. Some have driven through three or four hours of freezing rain, six hours with the snow. They have made an extraordinary effort to be here in extenuating circumstances. I think we all owe them our thanks.
An Act to permit the resumption and continuation of the operation of the National Research Universal Reactor at Chalk River December 11th, 2007
Mr. Chair, I can only advise the member to pass this bill. AECL has advised us that it is ready to resume operations forthwith. It believes it can operate it safely, if not even safer than it has been operating in the past.
I think it was outlined that it will take three days to get it to the point where it can start pulling some charged targets, but not fully charged.
The advice I have been given is that if AECL started the reactor tomorrow, if we pass this legislation tonight and got it through both Houses, once AECL starts the reactor it is approximately eight days before it would have a usable radioisotope. It is eight days from the time it starts until it actually has a usable radioisotope. That is the information that we have been provided.
An Act to permit the resumption and continuation of the operation of the National Research Universal Reactor at Chalk River December 11th, 2007
Mr. Chair, on Friday, November 30, there was an email sent by the government relations person at AECL that in fact there was a shutdown, that it expected to resume operations soon.
I do not have the specifics of that, but it was not sent at a senior level. It was not sent to me personally. I became aware of it some time on December 3 and then there were discussions on December 4 about an action plan, but it was not communicated before that.
I was first made aware I believe late in the day on December 3 and started working on it on December 4.
An Act to permit the resumption and continuation of the operation of the National Research Universal Reactor at Chalk River December 11th, 2007
Mr. Chair, we disagree with that interpretation. Our interpretation is very clear from all of the advice that we have received. It is specific only to these two pumps and that the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission would have complete jurisdiction over all other aspects with respect to regulating the reactor at Chalk River.
An Act to permit the resumption and continuation of the operation of the National Research Universal Reactor at Chalk River December 11th, 2007
Mr. Chair, I will read subclause (1), which states:
Atomic Energy Canada Limited may resume and continue the operation of the National Research Universal Reactor at Chalk River in Ontario for a period of 120 days after the coming into force of this Act despite any conditions of its licence under the Nuclear Safety and Control Act relating to the installation of the seismically qualified motor starters on the heavy water pumps and the connection to the emergency power supply.
It is very specific that this exemption applies is to only these pumps and we have legal opinions to support that.
An Act to permit the resumption and continuation of the operation of the National Research Universal Reactor at Chalk River December 11th, 2007
Mr. Chair, I am going to read from our in-house counsel at Natural Resources Canada. We also have similar opinions from Justice Canada.
Clause 1(2) does not displace CNSC authority. It is a limiting condition on the permission Parliament gives by clause 1(1). Clause 1(1) allows AECL to operate in spite of its licence. Except for that one point in its licence condition, no other inference with CNSC authority is affected. They continue to have authority to inspect, and to ensure AECL is in compliance with all other licence conditions.
An Act to permit the resumption and continuation of the operation of the National Research Universal Reactor at Chalk River December 11th, 2007
Mr. Chair, we would have no objection and we would ask that AECL submit a report once every 30 days throughout this period just to update the members of the House on the current status, including the start-up. This is a reasonable request and we think that should be able to be accommodated without any difficulty.
An Act to permit the resumption and continuation of the operation of the National Research Universal Reactor at Chalk River December 11th, 2007
Mr. Chair, I am happy to respond. Again, I stress what we are all trying to focus on is medical isotopes. That is from a Department of Justice lawyer. We will be happy to make that available to all hon. members of the House in a cooperative approach to see if we can resolve this issue tonight.
An Act to permit the resumption and continuation of the operation of the National Research Universal Reactor at Chalk River December 11th, 2007
Mr. Chair, I believe one of the questions was would we agree to have AECL report to the House during the 120 days.
We are all here to cooperate. Our number one focus, again, is to resume the production of medical isotopes in an absolute safe way. We would have no objection if there were a need for a report to come forward at some intervals to the House to make that available if there were specific questions that it wanted to be reported. In fact, we would welcome that.
I should also point out that the president of the CNSC has indicated that if the bill were to pass, it would have no authority over the NRU. That is not the opinion we take. We cannot take one section of the bill in isolation of the other. In fact, when we read both sections of the bill, there is no question that CNSC would continue to have regulatory authority over the NRU. The only specific exception would be this single pump.
Therefore, I believe it is important that we recognize the bill in its entirety and it would continue to have regulatory authority over all other aspects of the NRU, the reactor.