Natural Resources committee  We're going to look at a good number of questions. We've signed a protocol. A lot of projects and information are going to be submitted in August, and these will have to comply with all the required conditions. Public hearings will then be held, and this will enable a lot of peop

Natural Resources committee  Yes. Every time there's a cause of action, we examine each part, each stage, very carefully.

Natural Resources committee  No. Right now we have discovered this corrosion issue. Now AECL will have to determine the extent of the corrosion. If they come up with a solution on how to repair the vessel, they'll have to come to us and prove to our satisfaction that they can power it up safely. We will be w

Natural Resources committee  Absolutely. We have staff on site who monitor and participate in practically every inspection and every review. In addition to that, the licences are awarded for five years, and every time the licence is up for renewal, review is required. So in 2006 there was an extensive review

Natural Resources committee  Let me respond by saying that I keep hearing people referring to an aging, creaky, leaky NRU production, but there is no real set time for some of those reactors. If you look at what's happening in power reactors, they're being refurbished and put in place. Some of them are runni

Natural Resources committee  That's right. If I saw a wing that was being corroded, I wouldn't go on that airplane.

Natural Resources committee  Eight people live and work there to provide all necessary supervision.

Natural Resources committee  You must understand that it is not easy to get into the reactor to do checks. It's not like a car.

Natural Resources committee  It's far. The work must always be done from a distance. It's hard. Still, from time to time, we tried to check whether each part of the reactor was operating properly. Occasionally we found things that needed improvement.

Natural Resources committee  Not to my understanding. Again, I just arrived early in 2008. My understanding is that it never did actually succeed in producing isotopes.

Natural Resources committee  As I'm trying to explain, our mandate is just to make sure whatever they do is done in a safe way. They were experimenting with the MAPLE and tried to make it work and every step of the way our goal was to make sure that whatever experimentation they were conducting was according

Natural Resources committee  But our expertise is really based on safety culture and safety cases. It is not really on actually producing, if you like, isotopes.

Natural Resources committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am happy to be here to discuss with you the role of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, especially with regard to Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, since the recent shutdown of the National Research Universal reactor. This is the third opportunity

Natural Resources committee  We always try to replace the old parts of the reactor. In fact, 75% of this reactor is new.

Natural Resources committee  We are trying to update the old nuclear plants. We could extend the lives of these plants by taking measures and by rebuilding— I'm not saying it right. When you really refurbish, for example, Bruce Power and Point Lepreau, it's almost like building a brand-new nuclear plant.