Editorial - 27-10

The fate of Canadian nuclear research appears to be hanging on an amorphous commitment to consider a fourth mandate for the restructured Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd (AECL), which is now moving to a government-owned, company-operated (GoCo) model. The potential fourth mandate — first raised by Natural Resources Canada minister Joe Oliver — would involve the government examining the value to Canada of investing in longer-term nuclear innovation (see lead story).

That, by logical extention, would require a $1-billion commitment to replace AECL's aging nuclear reactor — a long-delayed decision that will determine just what kinds of activities AECL will be doing five, 10 or 20 years from now. The lack of clarity surrounding this important component of a Canadian nuclear innovation agenda is worrying.

So, too, is the government's apparent expectation that the a successful bidder to operate AECL would contribute to the cost of replacing the 56-year-old Chalk River NRU reactor, which is licensed to operate only to 2016. Nuclear reactors operate globally under a range of management structures, but one would be hard pressed to find an operator of a government-owned facility that has contributed to the capital costs of a new reactor.

Canada has a long legacy of leadership in nuclear power generation and the NRU has served a diverse range of users and clients well. It is government's responsibility to pay for the cost of replacing the AECL reactor. If it insists that the future operator helps to foot the bill, the current process to moving to a GoCo model could be doomed to fail.