The federal government's plan to sell off Atomic Energy Canada Ltd.'s nuclear reactor business in order to boost sales of its CANDU reactor is coming under tough criticism.
Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt announced Thursday the plan to privatize the nuclear arm of AECL, saying the operations side of the Crown corporation should be run by business people, not bureaucrats.
Gordon Edwards, president of the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility, said Raitt is making a mistake by taking direction from the National Bank of Canada, which advised the sale.
He told CTV's Canada AM that taxpayers deserve to have a voice in the discussion.
"There have been public investments in AECL for 60 years and they're talking about $20 billion of investments," Kane said.
"It seems like there should be a public process. We should get all the cards on the table. The private banks have been notorious for not investing in nuclear reactor projects so why would we take advice from them?"
Under the restructuring the agency will be split into two companies: separating the CANDU nuclear reactor operations and the troubled National Research Universal reactor at Chalk River, Ont.
The government will also bring in a private sector partner to manage the aging and problem-plagued Chalk River facility, which was shut down May 15 for the third time in less than two years.
Raitt defended the plan during an appearance on Canada AM on Friday, saying the government is "seeking investment in a company we know has great people, great scientists and engineers and a great product we can sell throughout the world."
There simply isn't the capacity in the public purse, she said, to effectively sell Canada's nuclear products on a global scale, noting "we need a partner to help us do that."
In terms of the Chalk River NRU shutdown and the resulting global shortage of medical isotopes -- of which Chalk River supplies one-third -- Raitt said an expert panel has been appointed to look at the situation and come up with solutions.
But the reality is that any shutdown of the Chalk River plant results in a serious tightening of the supply, she said.
Linda Keen, former president of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, said Friday she believes the sell off of the nuclear reactor business reflects the government's ideology, rather than a strict business decision.
"I think it's ideological. I think the government has talked about getting rid of Crown corporations and I think this is one of the ones they have investigated and this has been in the works for a long time," Keen told Canada AM.
