Environment audit urges nuclear safety regulator to better track inspections
OTTAWA — A federal watchdog is urging Canada’s nuclear safety regulator to tighten up its inspections, saying paperwork problems are fuelling questions about whether it is scrutinizing facilities as thoroughly or as often as it should.
“This kind of lack of precision in a precision industry, I think, is not really acceptable,” Environment Commissioner Julie Gelfand told a news conference Tuesday after tabling her spring audits in the House of Commons.
“These mistakes shouldn’t happen when we’re dealing with nuclear power plants.”
The chapter on the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission was one of five in Gelfand’s fall audit, which also criticized Fisheries and Oceans Canada for failing to properly monitor the health of some fish stocks, or put plans in place to rebuild a dozen that are in critical condition.