Scientists who work for Canada’s nuclear regulatory body want their union to negotiate guarantees they will not be sanctioned if they speak out about safety issues, reports the Globe and Mail. Canada’s previous government famously forbade its scientists from speaking publicly about their research and even went so far as to occasionally prevent them from going to international conventions.
The Liberal government voted in on October 15, 2015 promised transparency and policy based on scientific evidence.
The Globe points out that the effort to free nuclear scientists to speak come at a time when the regulator is investigating allegations involving the licensing of nuclear plants. An anonymous letter says that scientific information about risk or noncompliance was withheld from decision-makers in five separate cases.
Regulator criticized by environmental groups
The newspaper also points out that environmental groups have long complained that the regulator, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, “acts more as a booster for nuclear energy than as a watchdog for public safety.”
The union told the Globe scientists are “extremely fearful of repercussions they might face for speaking out.” They want protection written into their next collective agreement.
Canadians may well wonder exactly what the scientists want to say.