As a result of the publication of the letter from Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn referenced in the post below this one, the president of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission has now made her 8 page reply and accompanying documentation available (pdf format) for our edification.. It doesn't appear that Ms. Keen is going to give up without a fight. Unfortunately the file is one of those pdf documents that has the selection tool disabled so I'm not going to quote from it extensively. But here's a taste:
The manner in which you have sought to approach these issues, absent or in advance of any formal inquiry, highlights a significant misunderstanding of the relationship between yourself, as Minister of Natural Resources, and the CNSC.
Which would be the bureaucratic equivalent of: who the hell do you think you're talking to in that tone of voice?
Keen goes on to remind Lunn that she heads an independent agency and is more than well qualified to determine exactly what "independence" entails in this context. I think Lunn is way out of his depth. I noted below that I thought it was embarrassment that, at least in part, motivated the hard line Lunn was taking in his letter. I believe this could get far more embarrassing for him if he pursues it.
Works for me.
Oops update:
Almost forgot. While I was composing, skdadl popped into comments on the previous post with a link to a Canadian Press story in the Globe and Mail about Keen's letter. I tip my hat to skdadl, she tips her hat to ReWind.It and I believe we all tip our hats to Linda Keen. Long may she regulate.
Whole lotta poppin' goin' on here.
And man, that is one whale of a spanking Keen just gave Lunn. *standing ovation* What a woman! Who knew?
For me, it is just so heartening to read someone of principle who is capable of setting out those principles and the history involved so clearly ... and who is also brave enough to do it. That takes ... ovaries! ;-)
After the past year of watching dozens of American officials and politicians cave in, inexplicably, to a failing regime -- the very one that Harper and Nunn and Co, inexplicably, wish to mimic -- it comes as a shock to me, but a welcome one, to read someone with brains and backbone who is ready to say FTS.
Someone should send a copy of this letter to Michael Mukasey and explain to him slowly, in little words, that this is how his own job is supposed to work, eh?
Great minds think alike. I just finished offering her kudos at my place. That woman doesn't suffer fools gladly, does she?
Hey, if any of you feel like quoting from the document more fully, I ran it through an OCR program and saved it back as a pdf.
Love the show.
That works, colin.
The 27 page narrative and commentary that accompanies Keen's letter is at least as interesting as the letter itself. Unless the government can substantially challenge the facts it contains, at the very least Gary Lunn needs to resign. I also have to question why the Department of Justice withdrew legal services from the CNSC at a crucial point and it can be argued that decision further placed the safety of Canadians at risk for no good reason (except possibly to protect a minister who had tried to interfere in the operation of a quasi-judicial body that's supposed to be at arm's length - but I'm not a lawyer and I've only read the thing once).
I'm hoping the opposition parties act like opposition parties because this whole situation is more serious than I had thought. And I already thought it was serious.
How embarrassing can it get for Lunn? How about the National Post comparing him to Homer Simpson?
Nobody eber takes me srsly.
j/k
Thanks for this, pogge. And all. I am so happy to see this story running on the legs it should be running on. And, my sense is that Linda Keen's gonna make sure it doesn't stop running.
Whooee! The opposition was tricked into voting to over-ride CNSC. I think there may be a bit of reluctance on the duped MP's to admit they were so easily duped by the big lie.
The big lie: Chalk River had to be restarted to supply needed medical isotopes.
The truth: European reactors were standing by, waiting for orders to fill MDS's contractual requirements.
Inconvenient truth: MP's of all stripes were too ignorant to ask if there wasn't an alternative to restarting NRU. Harper told them the sky was falling and they reacted out of their ignorance.
Mike Harris's Commonsense Revolutionaries utilized the same strategy. Create a crisis and kill as many birds with one stone as possible while appearing to show leadership in the face of the manufactured crisis. High school dropout Education Minister Snobelin was famous for the tactic.
Lunn needs to go. It'll be interesting seeing how Harper handles it.
JB
JimBobby:
Have you got a reference wrt the European reactors?
Funny how Homer Simpson keeps coming up.
Here's a quote from Berlynn , who's really on top of this:
"According to the US Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 181 / Tuesday, September 17, 1996 / Notices 48921 Nordion signed an agreement for an additional isotope with a Belgian supplier ( should the supply from Chalk River be interrupted."
Berlynn links to:
http://www.eh.doe.gov/NEPA/rods/1996/17se6rod.pdf
The document outlines how a shortage is to be dealt with and names a Belgian supplier as the alternative source for isotopes.
"IRE and Nordion have signed a mutual Mo-99 backup agreement to avoid a complete shortage of Mo-99 in case of an unscheduled shutdown of the Canadian NRU reactor."
Nordion is MDS Nordion, MDS owns a large minority share of IRE -- something like 49%.
Here's what MDS Nordion has to say:
http://www.nordion.com/products/medical-isotopes-availability.htm
# Our capacity to respond rapidly and effectively to routine orders as well as unexpected requests and emergencies is a hallmark of our operations.
# Our four cyclotrons and access to two reactors located in North America and Europe guarantee an uninterrupted supply for research and manufacturing.
Nordion's 1997 year end report states:
"Nordion has taken steps to lessen the risk that a labour disruption will cause an interruption in its source of supply of medical isotopes by establishing co-beneficial back-up arrangements with certain competitors.
The principal competitors are: in radiopharmaceuticals, Institut National des Radioelements (IRE) in Belgium and Atomic Energy Corporation of South Africa; and in industrial irradiation, REVISS of Russia. "
Source: http://www.mdsinc.com/reports/1997_engaif.htm
News reports during the crisis reported that the Belgian supplier was awaiting an order anbd had already been gearing up to meet MDS's demand when NRU was known to be inoperative.
JB
Good grief. JibBobby, thanks for that. I'm not sure any of this is widely known. I'll put up a post h/t you and Berlynn.
That's "JimBobby," sorry.
Look, I read the documents and all, and it appears to me that the back-up Belgian facility was never intended to replace all of the missing product for eight weeks, only offer its excess capacity to help out. And that seems to be what happened: the Belgian concern and another one in South Africa offered assistance, but there was still, by all accounts, a bad shortage of radioisotopes.
If I'm wrong, and/or have missed something, please let me know. There's lots of good stuff in Berlynn's post besides that piece, in any case, and thanks for all the links.