Natural Resources committee  The reactor shut down on May 14, and it was apparent that there was a heavy water leak. The leak was discovered on May 18.

Natural Resources committee  Actually, there were a number of inspections done over the preceding period. Unfortunately, the technology of the day, although it was very effective at the higher levels of the reactor vessel wall, was unable to reach the area where the corrosion existed. So the means that were used did not detect it.

Natural Resources committee  I'm very confident that the inspections that have been done have shown that, structurally, the NRU is in very good condition and is fit to return to service and operate well through the next licence period. The challenge that we face is starting up a reactor that will be shut down for over a year.

Natural Resources committee  The challenge in the last repair is that we need to go through the rest of the development phase, and then we need to do the qualification and testing. The size of this repair, to weld a single coupon for this repair, will take five days working around the clock. We need to do a number of these coupons in order to prove that we have the process, that it's practised, that we can complete it reliably.

Natural Resources committee  Yes, I'll see if I got the entire question. First of all, you asked about the types of errors that we need to guard against. There are really two concerns in doing the repairs. One is, if we do a repair that results in excessive stress on the vessel wall, there is a mechanical seal that sits about six inches below where we're doing the repairs, and if that seal is disturbed, then it would be very challenging to reseat it on a reactor of this age.

Natural Resources committee  With some difficulty. This weld was actually made in a mock-up. It was made through a 12-centimetre opening some 30 feet away from the actual plate. This sample is made of ethyl material that is the thickness and the curvature of the vessel. This was actually done on November 15, mid-November.

Natural Resources committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As Hugh MacDiarmid just stated, the NRU repair and return to service is making steady progress in addressing the remaining unique repairs. Now we would like to take this opportunity to provide additional detail on the repairs and highlight how our outage team is successfully managing the repair process.

Natural Resources committee  On a technical basis, I am in communication with the people at the Petten plant in the Netherlands. So they are aware of our progress, and I am aware of their plans. Concerning the broader platform of isotopes, I would pass the microphone to Richard.

Natural Resources committee  I thank you very much for those comments, Mr. Chairman. So much time is spent dwelling on the challenges and the issue that we often overlook the effort of all of the people involved in making this possible. So thank you very much.

Natural Resources committee  I think that was a very good description, Mr. Chair. You spoke of the inspection tooling. The whole inspection program is a good one, and it's coming to completion. It started with only video looking for a leak, and then very quickly AECL developed eddy-current and ultrasonic non-destructive technology to put into the vessel to be able to do non-destructive examination of the surface.

Natural Resources committee  On the subject of the dry ice blast, that was a tool developed as one of the cleaning alternatives. Actually, we have gone with a mechanical cleaning process instead. The carbon dioxide ice blast remains available as a contingency if it's required. We may still use it in some specific locations.

Natural Resources committee  A lot of the recent effort has been around the welding procedures that will allow us to do a weld build-up over the location of the leak. We have proven it on the bench and we're proving it in the mock-ups. So the answer is yes.

Natural Resources committee  We have a protocol with the CNSC around the NRU repair and return to service. It's signed by our president, Hugh McDiarmid, and the president of the CNSC, Michael Binder. It lays out the requirements and the documents we need to produce and submit to the CNSC. And it provides a schedule.

Natural Resources committee  Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't record a question.

Natural Resources committee  You're right, nuclear reactors and cars are not the same thing.