Natural Resources committee  In Saskatchewan, the richness of the uranium mine is such that--

Natural Resources committee  Right. So far I can tell you we have a very good working relationship with the Saskatchewan government, and in fact they're quite happy for us to continue to work with them on this thing.

Natural Resources committee  We delegate as much as we can.

Natural Resources committee  If it is very dangerous, there are certain protocols. They specify how people will be informed. If it is very dangerous, there is a protocol for that and it is public. We're talking about an incident such as closing reactors for unforeseen reasons.

Natural Resources committee  Yes, that could happen.

Natural Resources committee  Yes, if there is a radiation leak, it is absolutely necessary to alert everyone, but that doesn't happen.

Natural Resources committee  All I can say is on my watch over the last five months there have been a couple of significant development reports, or SDRs. An SDR is a document that absolutely has to be tabled in front of the commission and talks about a particular incident. If it's an incident that in any way threatens the environment or the public, there's a protocol for making it public with the community.

Natural Resources committee  I am not familiar with the details of the protocol, but I know there is one. I could send it to the committee.

Natural Resources committee  Sorry, I'm not familiar with the incident you're talking about. But of the incidents I've been around, we did not have any where a release occurred that threatened either the employees or the environment. All nuclear plants have a protocol for communicating emergency issues to the public.

Natural Resources committee  Well, it's actually an excellent question, which troubled me when I arrived. This particular sector has been somewhat in a sleep mode for the last 30 years in terms of doing new things. Right now all of a sudden there is hyperactivity--an interest in mining, in maybe new builds, in refurbishment--so we had to prioritize internally.

Natural Resources committee  Yes, I've heard the testimony, but I think that the surprise was that the scientists couldn't fix it. That's the surprise.

Natural Resources committee  Right.

Natural Resources committee  No. Safety was not the driver for discontinuing the MAPLE. Lack of understanding of how it operates was. Again I come back to people believing that science is a slam-dunk--you know, you can do this, and it's no problem. This was never done in that small a configuration with AECL.

Natural Resources committee  It's always a question of money. It could be refitted but that would be more costly than building new reactors. Furthermore, we decided to build a reactor specifically for the production of isotopes. Refitting the NRUs could be very costly, so we'll see.

Natural Resources committee  Absolutely. Every incident has to be reported within a formal process. It is tabled before the courts and it becomes public.