Natural Resources committee  When we were considering the model we propose, we did look at some other facilities. Gord was actually able to go down to visit Oak Ridge recently. One of the models we looked at, the Canadian Neutron Beam Centre at Chalk River,was actually on a smaller scale. It is an exception to Chalk River as a whole.

Natural Resources committee  I apologize for that paragraph being confusing, but the reference to 10 years was to mean that it may take a decade or so to actually set up and implement the vision that we're talking about. When you're talking about recovering full costs for things like isotope production, you recognize that you have waste management issues and costs of processing the isotopes on site.

Natural Resources committee  My impression of the MAPLE reactor is as being largely a production facility as opposed to a research and development facility that facilitates the training of many scientists and engineers. There would have been many nuclear engineers working on the MAPLE reactors. I'm not really an expert on that point.

Natural Resources committee  I've heard the label “clean” used for nuclear energy, often in the context of greenhouse gas emissions. It's one of the lowest emitters of greenhouse gases of all of our possible energy sources. That is not to say there aren't any other issues with it, but as far as the nuclear waste goes, from what I understand we have the expertise and capability of handling those materials over the long term.

Natural Resources committee  In our report, we did not address the MAPLE issue. I'm not a technical expert on the issues involved in the MAPLE reactors, but we do recognize certain key points about the MAPLEs. They were supposed to be a dedicated facility for medical isotope production only--and not even every medical isotope, but certain ones.

Natural Resources committee  Well, it's certain that beginning the planning process toward a new multi-purpose reactor would require a significant amount of funds. I don't know that we've actually seen the details of all of that money and how it's going to be used and whether any of that could be directed toward the planning process.

Natural Resources committee  Being here as an individual, I can't really comment on how that affects the individual departments involved. Of course we know that some funds will have to come from somewhere. We certainly would like to see that sooner rather than later, just because of the risks involved in significant delays.

Natural Resources committee  Actually, Gord was more involved at the inception, so I'd like him to comment on that.

Natural Resources committee  As the chair said, my name is Daniel Banks, and I'm here to testify as an individual, and more specifically, as an individual who is part of a grassroots group of volunteers known as CREATE. With me today is Gord Tapp, who's also a member of CREATE. First, let me tell you what CREATE is.