Canada’s nuclear watchdog under review

Canada’s nuclear watchdog is getting a checkup.

An international team of nuclear regulators will compare the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission’s practices with other countries’ before delivering a report this fall.

Martin Virgilio, a senior official with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, says he and other regulators will visit several sites – including Atomic Energy of Canada’s downed reactor at Chalk River, Ont.

AECL shut down the aging reactor last month after discovering a heavy-water leak, sparking a shortage of the medical isotopes used in cancer and heart scans.

Virgilio is one of 20 delegates dispatched to Canada from countries that are part of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The agency has done similar reviews recently in the United Kingdom, France, Japan, Australia, Mexico, Spain and Germany.

Source: The Canadian Press