"3941 Dead" <zepp22113941@finestplanet.com> wrote in message
news:9ug9q31816v2d8btpgh06slphvgdrt91et@4ax.com...

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/01/29/isotopes-keen.html

[Zeppnote: situated where it is, in the wintere, an accident here
could take out Ottawa and Montreal, and probably New York City and
Boston]

I say shut it down! Let the Canadians freeze in the dark. ;)

of course, we will need to close off our border with Canada. Wouldnt want
those people migrating our way.....

The woman who was fired by the federal Conservatives as president of
Canada's nuclear safety watchdog said Tuesday the safety risk of
resuming the Chalk River, Ont., reactor was 1,000 times higher than
accepted international standards.

Linda Keen prepares to appear before the House of Commons natural
resources committee on Parliament Hill on Tuesday.Linda Keen prepares
to appear before the House of Commons natural resources committee on
Parliament Hill on Tuesday.

Linda Keen, former president of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission
(CNSC), said there was a one in 1,000 chance of an accident occurring
and she did not believe the medical isotope-producing nuclear reactor
in Chalk River should have resumed operation.

In the case of a nuclear fuel failure, the international standard for
acceptable risk is one in a million, Keen said.

"Some have suggested that the chance of a nuclear accident was low and
that the reactor was safe enough. Well, with respect, safe enough is
simply not good enough," said Keen, who spoke before a House of
Commons natural resources committee.

"When it comes to nuclear facilities, ignoring safety requirements is
simply not an option, not now, not ever."
Continue Article

She said she was acting according to the law when she refused to
approve the restart of the reactor.
Safety, not isotopes, under CNSC's mandate: Keen

Two weeks ago, Keen was dismissed as head of the commission before she
was set to appear before the committee to discuss the shutdown of the
Chalk River facility. She subsequently backed out of her planned
testimony.

The reactor, which produces two-thirds of the world's medical
radioisotopes, was closed for scheduled maintenance in November but
regulators found more problems than expected - including two water
pumps that didn't have emergency backup power. Keen ordered the
reactor to stay closed indefinitely until the operator, Atomic Energy
of Canada Ltd., installed safety upgrades.

'Under the law, the commission did not have the authority to take
the issue of isotopes into consideration when making its
decision.'-Linda Keen

The prolonged shutdown created a worldwide shortage of isotopes
necessary for medical diagnosis and treatment.

Keen said that under her mandate, public safety must come first and
nowhere does it say she should consider the effect a shutdown would
have on the production of isotopes.

"Under the law, the commission did not have the authority to take the
issue of isotopes into consideration when making its decision," she
said.

Keen said the government implicitly recognized this by enacting
emergency legislation to suspend the commission's powers and get the
reactor up and running.

"[This] would not have been necessary if the commission already had
that responsibility," she said. "The fact is, it did not."

Parliament voted unanimously to override the safety regulator's
objections and the reactor was restarted on Dec. 16.
Medical need outweighed safety concerns: Tories

Gary Lunn, the federal minister of natural resources who dismissed
Keen, has already told the committee that she showed a "lack of
leadership" and should have allowed the Chalk River reactor to be
turned back on, despite the safety concerns, so it could start making
isotopes again.

Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn told the committee earlier in
January that 'people invariably would have died' had the government
not ordered production of medical isotopes to resume.Natural Resources
Minister Gary Lunn told the committee earlier in January that 'people
invariably would have died' had the government not ordered production
of medical isotopes to resume.
(Fred Chartrand/Canadian Press)

Conservative MP Brad Trost raised that issue during Tuesday's hearing,
saying her mandate "does not specifically exclude being concerned
about cancer patients and their treatments."

Trost said Keen also could have used her emergency powers, which he
said allows the commission, in the case of an emergency, to make any
order "that it considers necessary to protect the environment or the
health and safety of persons."

Keen repeated, "This was not the mandate of the CNSC. It has been
independently reviewed for seven years and that was not the mandate of
the CNSC."
'We were being told what to do': Keen

Before Keen's appearance, Auditor General Sheila Fraser testified that
Keen's firing clearly raised questions about the independence of
regulatory bodies and how they are dealt with.

She said that at a minimum, there appears to be "a lack of clarity"
around the issue.

During testimony, Ontario Liberal MP Lloyd St. Amand accused Lunn of
interfering in an independent commission, and asked Keen about a call
she received from the minister in early December about the incident.

"You were being told by the minister of natural resources what to do
and how to do it," Armand said.

"There's absolutely no doubt in our mind that we were being told when
to do it and what to do on that date, and that was my impression,"
Keen said.
Liberals want tribunal

When Lunn threatened to fire Keen in a letter, Keen responded in a
letter of her own, challenging cabinet's assessment of her actions and
demanding an independent review.

On Monday, the Liberals asked again that Stephen Harper's government
appoint an independent, non-partisan tribunal to review Keen's
dismissal.

Lunn has dismissed opposition calls for an inquiry, noting that
Parliament unanimously passed emergency legislation in December to
overturn her decision.

He also said all of the facts are now public and MPs already had an
opportunity to question him at his previous appearance before the
committee.

--
"Now, by the way, any time you hear the United States government
talking
about wiretap, it requires -- a wiretap requires a court order.
Nothing has
changed, by the way. When we're talking about chasing down terrorists,
we're
talking about getting a court order before we do so"
-George W. Bush, April 20, 2004

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--

What do you call a Republican with a conscience?

An ex-Republican.

http://www.balloon-juice.com/?p=8827 (From Yang, AthD (h.c)

"I simply can not believe this is what the Republican party has
become. I just can't. It just makes me sick to think all those years
of supporting this party, and this is what it has become. Even if you
don't like the S-Chip expansion, it is hard to deny what Republicans
are- a bunch of bitter, nasty, petty, snarling, sneering, vicious
thugs, peering through people's windows so they can make fun of their
misfortune.

I'm registering Independent tomorrow."

Putsch: leading America to asymetric warfare since 2001

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