In December, Liberal MP Omar Alghabra asked the Auditor General to audit Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd.
Today, the Liberals released a response from Fraser to Alghabra's letter. Fraser said her office just audited AECL and presented AECL's board with that audit on Sept 5 2007. She said AECL was under no legal obligation to disclose that audit but most Crown Corporations were expected to disclose it. She was mystified as to why AECL had not yet disclosed or published the audit.
As of 6 pm Wednesday AECL had not yet posted that audit and had not responded to calls I made today to AECL to see this audit.
Then, around 7 pm, the Liberals discovered that AECL had quietly posted the audit on its Web site.
The bottom line from the audit: Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn knew in September that Chalk River was a mess, requiring hundreds of millions of dollars to address public safety and security deficiencies.
Here's the key line from the cover page of that audit:
“We would like to draw your attention to a significant deficiency related to the unresolved strategic challenges that the Corporation faces … it is our view that this report contains information that should be brought to the attention of the Minister of Natural Resources. Accordingly, following consultation with the Board, we will be forwarding a copy of the report to the Minister.”
Again: That was presented to AECL's board on September 5.
Some quotes from the audit:
“We did not do a technical assessment of the safety and security of the Corporation’s nuclear research facilities or waste management practices, as they are monitored by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.”
But, the auditor did have this to say:
“Our examination found a significant deficiency with respect to the risk that the Corporation may be unable to resolve three strategic challenges that, in particular, entail long-term funding requirements and that together would impair its ability to achieve its mandate. These challenges are the completion and licensing of the Dedicated Isotope Facility (DIF), the development and licensability of the Advanced CANDU Reactor (ACR) in time for the market requirement, and the replacement of aging facilities at Chalk River Laboratories (CRL)”
“30. A significant deficiency is one that prevents, or puts at material risk, the organization’s ability to achieve one or more of its statutory control objectives—to safeguard and control its assets, to manage its resources economically and efficiently, and to carry out its operations effectively—in support of its mandate. 31. During our special examination, we noted a significant deficiency: the risk to AECL’s ability to achieve its mandate due to unresolved strategic challenges that, in particular, entail long-term funding requirements. These challenges are the completion and licensing of the Dedicated Isotope Facility (DIF), the development and licensability of the Advanced CANDU Reactor (ACR) in time for the market requirement, and the replacement of aging facilities at Chalk River Laboratories (CRL).” (p. 12)
38. Replacement of aging facilities at Chalk River Laboratories. Limited funds threaten AECL’s ability to manage the Canadian nuclear platform responsively and cost-effectively and to properly safeguard its assets. Some of the building infrastructure at the Chalk River Laboratories (CRL) is 50 to 60 years old, well past the end of its originally intended useful life. In our 2002 special examination, we reported that until AECL could resolve how to fund the replacement of the aging buildings, the risks to public safety were likely to increase. 39. AECL has made limited investments in its infrastructure in recent years. Over the last five years, it obtained a total of $34 million in incremental funding from the federal government to deal with urgent heath, safety, security, and environmental requirements at the Chalk River site.
40. AECL has identified a need to increase its operating and capital investment by some $600 million in the next 5 years (about $850 million in the next 10 years) to address fire and building code deficiencies as well as licensing, health, safety, and security issues at the Chalk River Laboratories site. We understand that these amounts will not be included in AECL’s operating and capital budgets until the government provides direction on future funding.