MP raps Tories over leak at Chalk River nuclear plant
Last Updated: Tuesday, January 27, 2009 | 4:58 PM ET
CBC News
Related
Audio
- Evan Dyer reports: Watchdog accuses AECL of keeping nuclear plant leak secret (Runs: 1:55)
- Play: Real Media »
Opposition MPs rapped the government in question period Tuesday about an early-December leak at the Chalk River nuclear plant, about 185 kilometres northwest of Ottawa.
Liberal MP Geoff Regan wanted to know why the government hadn't informed Canadians about this "grave security problem."
Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt said the leaks were brought under control and didn't pose a hazard to anyone.
A spokesman for Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., Dale Coffin, said that on Dec. 5 a seal failed in the reactor and about 50 litres of heavy water spilled and was contained in stainless steel barrels of water.
Coffin said four litres evaporated up the stack, carrying what he called a minute amount of radioactive tritium. He said the amount was less than what AECL is required to report.
He admitted that a cracked pipe is also leaking water into the Ottawa River. But the water is not radioactive, he said.
Share Tools
Latest Ottawa News Headlines
- Gatineau police to question suspect in multiple homicides
- Gatineau police investigating a multiple homicide have a man in custody but have yet to question him after they say they found at least two people dead at a home in the Gatineau, Que., suburb of Aylmer. more »
- G20 police illegally arrested journalists, used gay slur
- Two Toronto police sergeants face disciplinary hearings after a watchdog agency found they illegally arrested two journalists during the G20 summit and that one officer hurled homophobic slurs. more »
- Double-lung recipient Hélène Campbell dances for joy
- The Ottawa woman who has become Canada's best-known advocate for organ donation was happy, smiling and in great spirits today as she described her new life less than two months after receiving a double-lung transplant. more »
- Birds attack Ottawa joggers
- Women jogging along the Rideau Canal in Ottawa might want to rethink that ponytail. It seems to be making them a target for blackbirds nesting in the area. more »
Top News Headlines
- Reclaiming the dead on Mt. Everest
- The difficulty, danger and expense of removing the bodies of climbers who died in Mount Everest's "death zone" mean most of the dead remain on the mountain as a stark reminder to other climbers of the risks. more »
- Teens share bullying tales in confession booth
- Raw stories about bullying emerged when a video booth was set up inside a Quebec high school. more »
- Neil Macdonald: How compromise became a dirty word in Washington
- As brinkmanship becomes the norm in this U.S. election year, some policy analysts, and even some long-serving Republicans, are calling out today's GOP for practising 'the new politics of extremism.' more »
- G20 police illegally arrested journalists, used gay slur
- Two Toronto police sergeants face disciplinary hearings after a watchdog agency found they illegally arrested two journalists during the G20 summit and that one officer hurled homophobic slurs. more »
Most Viewed/Commented
- Gatineau police make arrest after multiple homicides
- Birds attack Ottawa joggers
- Victim named in Queensway rollover crash
- Double-lung recipient Hélène Campbell dances for joy
- Nude Harper painting sells for $5,000
- SIU probes Cornwall man's death
- Ottawa race weekend road closures
- Canadian climber describes Everest as 'a morgue'
- Marathon runner has really big shoe to fill
