Linda Keen "nuked" by Lunn

Lack of leadership apparently means doing what the government wanted rather than following the safe course of action. There was a concerted media blitz about the isotope shortage and the problems it created. There is no mention that MDS Nordion markets the isotopes. Nordion would also suffer during the crisis.
The AECL operation itself is the problem. It is operating with a reactor that should have been retired years ago and the new reactors are far behind schedule. Something ought to be done about this. At the very least Lunn should be sacked as well.

Nuclear safety watchdog head fired for 'lack of leadership': minister
Last Updated: Wednesday, January 16, 2008 | 5:26 AM ET
CBC News
Federal Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn said Wednesday that he fired the head of the nuclear safety watchdog for her "lack of leadership" and "failure to manage the work."


The former head of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, Linda Keen, says she will appear at a parliamentary committee about the reactor closure on Wednesday.
(CBC)
Lunn's office issued a statement early Wednesday to announce Linda Keen's immediate firing as president of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.

The announcement came hours before both Lunn and Keen were to appear before a natural resources committee meeting.

Lunn, in his appearance Wednesday morning, told the committee that "a national and international health crisis" was threatened when the CNSC shut down the nuclear reactor in Chalk River, Ont., which produces much of the world's medical radioisotope supply.



He also said that Keen failed to quickly resolve an impasse between the commission and Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., the Crown corporation that operates the facility.

While Keen will remain a member of the commission, assistant deputy industry minister Michael Binder has been named as interim president.

Keen was fired days after she publicly accused Lunn of interfering with the independence of the arm's-length watchdog.

"The president was aware of the importance of maintaining Canada's and the world's supply of medical isotopes," said the statement from Lunn's office.

"However, given the growing crisis, she did not demonstrate the leadership expected of the president under the existing legislative provisions of the Nuclear Safety and Control Act to put the commission in a position to address the situation in a timely fashion."

Lunn and Keen have been at odds since the 50-year-old Chalk River nuclear reactor was shut down in November, prompting a worldwide shortage of medical isotopes. Parliament passed a measure requiring the facility to reopen in December.

In a Dec. 27 letter to Keen leaked to the Ottawa Citizen, Lunn questioned her judgment for recommending the reactor be shut down and informed her he was considering having her removed from the post.


Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn blamed the CNSC head Linda Keen for the reactor shutdown that caused the shortage of medical isotopes.
(CBC)
Keen responded with an eight-page letter accusing Lunn of improper interference and threatening to fight in court any attempt to remove her from her job. She also said she had asked the privacy commissioner and the RCMP to investigate how Lunn's letter was leaked to the media.


The reactor facility in Chalk River, Ont., is pictured in this photograph from 1985. Medical isotopes produced there are key to diagnosing and treating various cancers.
(Canadian Press)
The Chalk River reactor generates two-thirds of the radioisotopes used around the world in medical procedures and tests. It was shut down on Nov. 18 because of safety concerns.

A ministerial directive on Dec. 10 ordered the CNSC to reopen the site. The agency refused, insisting a backup safety system be installed to prevent the risk of a meltdown during an earthquake or other disaster.

On Dec. 11, an emergency measure passed through the House of Commons overturning the watchdog's decision, and the reactor was restarted for a 120-day run on Dec. 16.

The Conservative government has blamed the commission's intransigence for creating the crisis. And Prime Minister Stephen Harper pointed a finger directly at Keen, a career bureaucrat whom he referred to as a Liberal appointee.

"The course of action contemplated was extremely ill-advised, an appalling use of authority and judgment," Harper told CBC News in December.

Keen became head of the commission in 2001 and had been serving her second five-year term.

With files from