Ottawa revamps nuclear safety protocol

[CHIMO]

Source: THE CANADIAN PRESS

OTTAWA – Canada's nuclear regulator is changing the way it tracks lost, stolen and missing nuclear devices following a pointed inquiry about inconsistent reporting from the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Newly disclosed internal e-mails show the Vienna-based agency contacted officials in Ottawa after a Canadian Press investigation raised serious questions in July about how closely the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission monitors devices that could be used in a crude "dirty bomb."

Commission records revealed that dozens of radioactive tools – from an industrial gauge in Red Deer, Alta., to a device used for molecular separation in Montreal – had gone missing in the last five years.

Reports of losses or thefts of radioactive tools are supposed to be reported to the commission's nuclear security division, which, in turn, sends case information to the international agency's Illicit Trafficking Database, an inventory compiled with input from dozens of participating countries.



Read more: http://www.thestar.com/News/article/291473

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They don't even know what their obligations are according to the article. Futhermore, with the delays now in the access to information, by the time the data has been transmitted, the data is useless.