Canadian Parliament Forcing Re-Opening of Nuclear Reactor

The Canadian Parliament held emergency sittings of both the House of Commons and the Senate last night to pass through Bill C-38 on an urgent basis. This Bill is meant to force the re-opening of the Chalk River Nuclear Reactor, previously closed by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission in November on safety concerns. This reactor reportedly creates two-thirds of the world’s isotopes for use in medical evaluations or treatment, including for cancer. There is now a world shortage of these isotopes which has pressured the government to make this move. Bill C-38 was passed last night, but is not yet available on the Parliamentary website.

Bob LeDrew, a PR professional in Ottawa, has put together a fantastic description of how we got into this situation along with links to a number of resources in “Canadian Parliament declares nuclear reactor safe to open (?!)” over at Flacklife.

Update: My details above may have been somewhat incorrect. I can only find that Bill C-38 passed through the House of Commons and not yet the Senate. See: Bill C-38 status page from LegisInfo. A copy of First Reading has not yet been made available, but there is a copy of the 3rd Reading from the House if Commons (“as passed by the House of Commons”).