Questions were raised on Parliament Hill again last week about Atomic Energy of Canada’s new GoCo contract for Canadian Nuclear Laboratories.
Conservative members of the House of Commons standing committee on natural resources pressed for a full review of AECL’s decision, describing the deal as a “corporate raid” by American companies on Canada’s “strategic nuclear research assets.”
AECL announced in June its decision to award the next government-owned, contractor-operated (GoCo) management contract for CNL to a group called the “Nuclear Laboratories Partners of Canada.”
Nuclear Laboratories Partners of Canada (NLPC) has three primary members – BWXT Government Group, Amentum Environment & Energy, and Kinectrics Inc – with Battelle Memorial Institute included as key subcontractor, AECL said in its announcement.
NLPC was expected to assume responsibility for CNL, with Dennis Carr as president and CEO, on September 13.
However, that move has been put on hold while the contract is under review by the Competition Bureau of Canada.
At the natural resources committee, Conservative MP Corey Tochor questioned Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Tim Hodgson on how the government could allow the contract to go ahead.
Tochor said the Liberals ran the spring election on a “Canada strong, elbows up” platform.
“Yet before the dust had even settled on the election, a multi-year, multi-billion dollar contract was awarded to US companies, allowing Americans to carry out a corporate raid on our strategic nuclear research assets at CNL,” he said…
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