Nuclear Commission Head Fired.

Further to this see Lunns letter and the response<br />
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Minister Lunn’s letter<br />
<a href="http://www.nuclearsafety.gc.ca/eng/newsroom/issues/corr_letter_min_cnsc.pdf">http://www.nuclearsafety.gc.ca/eng/newsroom/issues/corr_letter_min_cnsc.pdf</a><br />
CNSC response<br />
<a href="http://www.nuclearsafety.gc.ca/eng/newsroom/issues/corr_letter_cnsc_min.pdf">http://www.nuclearsafety.gc.ca/eng/newsroom/issues/corr_letter_cnsc_min.pdf</a><br />
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The latter is 35 pages and gives much detail, but I highly recommend you read the first part which comprises the actual letter to Lunn, Ms Keen makes it very clear that ministerial interference with this committee is illegal and I entirely agree, she goes on to give the background regarding what was, and what was not, done in regard to the situation at Chalk River.<br />
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As one who lives downwind from a Nuclear reactor I cannot conceive of a politician having sway over a Nuclear Safety Commission, I further note that removal of Ms Keen from the position of chair does not reflect what I am sure was a decision by the entire commission not one individual. This Government and in particular Minister Lund and PMSH continue to show their arrogance and total disregard for ANY dissenting opinion, whether by individuals or duly appointed Commissions. <br />
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It has been suggested that this correspondence might “disappear” from the CNSC site by order of Harpler, I for one have saved it for future reference!<br />
<p>---<br>When you are up to your ass in alligators it is difficult to remember that the initial objective was to drain the swamp

VICTORIA, BC, January 14, 2008: Gary Lunn, the cabinet minister at the centre of the controversy about re-starting a nuclear reactor to produce medical isotopes - against advice from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission - is known as a political "yes-man" who sides vocally with industry on environmental questions………………….. <br />
Lunn is known for the pro-industry stands he has taken on environmental issues as natural resources minister. He has been condemned by BC residents for ending a 35-year old moratorium on super-tankers in coastal waters. He has aggressively advocated expansion of the use of nuclear power to extract oil from Alberta tar sands and pushed deregulation of tar sands development. He has enrolled Canada as a member of the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP), which promotes the export of uranium and nuclear reactors, along with the return of the radioactive waste (spent reactor fuel) to the supplier countries for disposal and reprocessing. Critics say this could result in spent nuclear waste being imported to Canada for storage…………………….. <br />
<a href="http://www.harperindex.ca/ViewArticle.cfm?Ref=00127">http://www.harperindex.ca/ViewArticle.cfm?Ref=00127</a><br />
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Sorry for the double post but this guy is our “Natural Resources Minister” , if this does not bother you, it should!<br />
<p>---<br>When you are up to your ass in alligators it is difficult to remember that the initial objective was to drain the swamp

This government wants to privatize and probably deregulate at least part of the nuclear industry. Linda Keen was likely perceived as an obstacle. Ideologically, for this version of right wing radicalism (they are not 'conservative'), production always takes precedence over other considerations including health and safety.

It should be noted that her replacement is an assistant deputy minister from the industry department who graduated from the University of Alberta.

Good thing for Linda Keen that Harper isn't Stalin (yet):<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Purge">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Purge</a><p>---<br>"When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change." <br />
-Max Planck<br />
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Linda Keen was fired for trying to protect the lives of workers and citizens who live within a hundred miles of this plant. It is obviously a safety issue. Who the christ appointed Gary Lunn God? Does this imbicile know what a China Syndrome is? Does he know what damage a meltdown can do. The only reason he has fired Ms Keen is because the public backlash is not going in his favour. As far as I'm concerned the firing is moot.This political jerk does not have the authority to fire an independent commissioner. That should be left up to the commission.

A 'meltdown' is highly unlikely to this reactor. It doesn't produce electricity, but uses isotopes to produce others used in medical research.

That is beside the point however. Lunn is an idiot, and he fired her to cover over his own incompetence.

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The preceding comment deals with mature subject matter, however immaturely presented. Viewer discretion is advised.

I suppose the best thing that can be done is to keep reminding people of the REAL record of this government whenever the upcoming election comes up..........

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"When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change."
-Max Planck

this lady is gone thank god! I simply can not believe that people would think otherwise. First she was approached by everyone to at least submit a request to her members of the commision to deal with getting the reactor back on line so that the isotopes can be produced and what happened? ... she says no we have procedures and stalls the request then it takes the entire parliament of canada to vote the authority to overide her decision so let's face it folks at that time she is toast and rightly so! otherwise people would not get their medicine and the death toll starts and then what would we say the anti-Harperites would start foaming at the mouth as usual and demand the government do something ... Good Grief! ... Just because you are a member of an independ quasi-judicial commission does not mean that you can go Rogue on people and ignore the health of Canadians the government was assured by experts that the reactor could go back on line and produce the isotopes safely and then this lady goes all rogue on us and people are defending her obviously none of those people don't have a diagnoses or therapy to face. I simply can not believe all this fuss. Not only that but this lady is an agronomist and not a nuclear safety expert she is liberal political hack who manages to get a job she is no way qualifed for. I say good riddens to bad rubbish and only hope the taxpayer will not have to pay her one red cent.

"she says no we have procedures and stalls the request"

EXACTLY, what use is a Nuclear Safety Commission if a bloody Politician (or for that matter parliament) can override their decisions. The reason there are procedures in place is to ensure that the process of deciding on the operating conditions cannot be tampered with or a step missed, although it can now been seen that apparently MPs and / or governments can indeed ignore the procedures. Its pretty obvious “Clone” that you live no where near one of these facilities and have a lot more faith in the decisions of MPs and Governments than I do!!
She and the Commission were doing the job they were hired for by the rules, which is EXACTLY what they should (indeed must) do. Would that our present government played by the rules and stopped playing politics with every issue that comes up.



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When you are up to your ass in alligators it is difficult to remember that the initial objective was to drain the swamp

And then there is this, defending the indefendable (at the tax payers expense off course)...............<br />
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OTTAWA — Taxpayers shelled out to pay a private image consultant to coach Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn for his televised appearance before a Commons committee in Ottawa yesterday. <br />
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Lunn was hauled before the committee to answer questions about the controversial shutdown of the nuclear reactor at Chalk River. <br />
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Lunn defended his controversial firing of the head of Canada’s nuclear watchdog<br />
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<a href="http://torontosun.com/News/Canada/2008/01/17/4777781-sun.html">http://torontosun.com/News/Canada/2008/01/17/4777781-sun.html</a><br />
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<p>---<br>When you are up to your ass in alligators it is difficult to remember that the initial objective was to drain the swamp

<blockquote> then it takes the entire parliament of canada to vote the authority to overide her decision </blockquote> If politicians can override anything, then why do we need electricians and plumbers and the like to be certified? Would YOU want Uncle Jeb to wire your house, simply because the electical code is "unreasonable"......of course maybe YOU would -- and be the first to complain at how long it took the fire service to put out the fire.<p>Wonder what kind of mewling this weasel government would have done if there HAD been a nuclear incident........</p><p>---<br>"When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change." <br />
-Max Planck<br />
<br />

What did they do -- put the little Napoleon-clone in 6" heels.......?

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"When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change."
-Max Planck

Engineering blunders, shoddy workmanship, lax quality control are real cause, nuclear experts say<br />
Jan 19, 2008 04:30 AM <br />
PETER CALAMAI <br />
SCIENCE REPORTER<br />
<br />
The oldest nuclear research reactor in the world is still chugging away at Chalk River, already running three years beyond its scheduled retirement date to meet global demand for medical isotopes.<br />
Yet in a nearby building two new custom-built MAPLE reactors, designed specifically for isotope production, sit idle eight years after they were supposed to replace the 50-year-old, multipurpose National Research Universal reactor.<br />
The new reactors aren't operating because of a series of hard-to-believe blunders by once world-class Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., the Crown corporation responsible for designing and building them.<br />
The blunders include:<br />
An unproven and overly intricate design that strained the competence of AECL engineers and scientists.<br />
Shoddy workmanship and lax quality control, which meant grit particles stopped two sets of safety control rods from shutting down the reactors.<br />
An unexplained miscalculation about changes in reactivity – the reactor's oomph – on which the entire safety scenario is based. <br />
In the view of most nuclear experts and informed observers, these AECL failures are the real cause of last month's crisis in isotope production that culminated this week in the Harper government's unprecedented firing of Linda Keen, president of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. <br />
Artice continues at <a href="http://www.thestar.com/sciencetech/article/295589">http://www.thestar.com/sciencetech/article/295589</a><br />
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<p>---<br>When you are up to your ass in alligators it is difficult to remember that the initial objective was to drain the swamp

Earlier Wednesday, Health Minister Tony Clement said Keen's decision to shut down the plant was a massive error in judgment. <br />
Clement said the risk to cancer and heart patients, who rely on medical isotopes, should have been the top priority. <br />
"Quite frankly, the former head of the Nuclear Safety Commission, Linda Keen, got it spectacularly wrong," Clement told Canada AM on Wednesday. <br />
"And even yesterday she refused to concede that her judgment was wrong on this, even though Parliament made that ultimate judgment on her." ………………………………<br />
During her testimony on Tuesday, Keen defended her actions and said Canadians shouldn't have to choose between nuclear safety and medical isotopes. <br />
"Safety at a nuclear facility needs to meet the same high standards that we expect from a space shuttle or a jumbo jet," Keen said. <br />
"The regulations the commission enforces and the standards it upholds are about far more than pushing paper. They're really about protecting lives. That's why when it comes to nuclear facilities, ignoring safety requirements is simply not an option." <br />
But Clement said Canadian medical isotope supplies were down by 65 per cent by the time Parliament passed the bill to reopen the reactor, and the situation was quickly becoming dangerous………………. <br />
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From <a href="http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080129/isotopes_clement_080130/20080130?hub=Canada">http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080129/isotopes_clement_080130/20080130?hub=Canada</a><br />
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The only ones who got it “spectacularly wrong” were the ministers who interfered with an “independent commission”………<br />
“the situation was quickly becoming dangerous” to those that failed to upkeep this reactor to standards and the conservative “control freaks”.<br />
The spin cometh.<br />
<p>---<br>When you are up to your ass in alligators it is difficult to remember that the initial objective was to drain the swamp