MP Gallant congratulates AECL on 50th Anniversary of NRU reactor start-up

November 02, 2007

OTTAWA – During the debate in the House of Commons regarding the Nuclear Liability and Compensation Act, Cheryl Gallant, MP took the opportunity to congratulate Atomic Energy of Canada, (AECL) on reaching a half-century milestone in the history of the Crown Corporation.

Hansard, October 30, 2007. Mrs. Cheryl Gallant (Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke, Conservative):

At 6:10 a.m., November 3, 1957, the National Research Universal, NRU, reactor at AECL's Chalk River laboratories reached the starting point for the first time. Designed for research and plutonium production at a cost of $67 million, with that landmark achievement, Canada's science and technology stepped on to the world stage.

I encourage all parliamentarians to join me in congratulating AECL as it celebrates this 50-year milestone in the history of nuclear research in Canada. I am pleased to recognize Mr. John Inglis, the shift supervisor and engineer in 1957 for the start-up. Mr. Inglis still resides in Deep River today.

“It was very appropriate for me to take the opportunity during the debate regarding the Nuclear Liability and Compensation Act, to recognize this 50 year achievement by AECL. That legislation, which I am urging my fellow Parliamentarians to support, is intended to provide the nuclear industry with the legal and regulatory framework to enjoy another 50 years of creating milestones,” observed MP Cheryl Gallant. “ For the over 2500 people directly employed at the Chalk River Laboratories site, and the almost 5000 AECL employees across Canada, that 50 year anniversary is something they can all be proud of.”

The Nuclear Liability Act has been a serviceable instrument, but nevertheless, it is time now to update it, modernize it and simplify it. This is entirely what one would expect. The existing act now dates back 30 years. Indeed, if we started the clock at 1970, when the act was drafted, the legislation could be said to date back a full 37 years, which is several lifetimes in terms of nuclear technology and the related technologies such as computer compatibility.

The act, in its present form, thus reflects the technology, the science, and thinking of an early age and experience gained up to that time. In the interim, however, while the nuclear industry has evolved and improved dramatically, inflation and our evolving jurisprudence have caused the potential liability for incidents to increase.

Accordingly, the legislation must evolve. We must maintain the basic concepts of absolute and exclusive liability, but we must increase liability amounts, increase mandatory insurance requirements, add new concepts of damage, and provide better definitions of the compensation process. What we must do is meet the practical requirements and the realities of a new century.