Dear Mr. Duclos and Members of the Treasury Board,
We would like to bring to your attention problems with the handling of Canada’s $8 billion federal nuclear waste and decommissioning liability by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL).
As detailed in the attached discussion paper, “The Government of Canada’s Radioactive Wastes: Costs and Liabilities Growing under Public-Private Partnership,” taxpayer funding to AECL roughly quadrupled to. . .
$1.3 billion between 2015/16 and 2020/21. During this period, AECL’s reported liabilities increased by $332 million.
The previous Conservative Government attempted to cut costs and accelerate reduction of federal nuclear waste liabilities by implementing a public-private partnership or GoCo (“Government owned, Contractor operated”) contract between AECL and a multinational consortium.
The GoCo contractor is advancing substandard radioactive waste projects that do not comply with international standards and obligations. Environmental assessments are mired in controversy and several years behind schedule.
In the process of implementing the GoCo contract, Government oversight was greatly reduced and control over Canada’s federally-owned nuclear facilities and radioactive wastes was largely transferred to American-owned interests. It appears that AECL’s president Richard Sexton, is an American national and former senior executive in two of the original corporations awarded the GoCo contract in 2015 as members of the Canadian National Energy Alliance (CNEA) consortium. Mr. Sexton is also the Fee Distribution Officer who determines the award fees received by the consortium. AECL’s Lead Contracts Officer is an American national. The board of CNEA is comprised of a majority of American nationals. The GoCo contract was recently renewed unexpectedly, 18 months prior to its official expiry date, with no information provided as to the reason for the early renewal.
Issues of ethics and accountability have arisen in connection with the GoCo contract. The Caretaker Convention appears to have been disregarded in September 2015 when the multi-billion dollar GoCo contract was signed during a federal election campaign. The Integrity Regime appears to have been disregarded when the GoCo contract was quietly renewed by AECL in April 2020, during the early days of the pandemic lockdown, despite the conviction in Canada in late 2019 of the Canadian consortium partner SNC-Lavalin on a charge of fraud.
We believe that intervention is required by Cabinet and/or Parliament to restore control of and oversight over Canadian nuclear facilities and radioactive wastes, and to ensure that public funds are spent wisely.
Gordon Edwards, Ph.D, Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility
Éric Notebaert, MD, M.Sc., Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment
Ole Hendrickson, Ph.D, Concerned Citizens of Renfrew County and Area
CC: Karen Hogan, Auditor General of Canada
Greg Fergus, Parliamentary Secretary to the President of the Treasury Board
