Ontario health bureaucrats have raised the age-old question: Would a nuclear disaster in Canada fall under federal or a provincial jurisdiction?

The intervention has provoked a heated outburst from Michael Binder, chief executive of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.

Binder wants all residents who live close to nuclear plants to be given potassium iodide pills, as a precautionary measure, by December 2015.

The pills protect the thyroid gland from absorbing radiation.

The nuclear safety commission has drafted a regulation that would put the onus of distributing pills on the operators of nuclear plants.

But Ontario’s Ministry of Health wrote this week to the commission questioning whether it has the constitutional right to make the order.

“The provincial government has jurisdiction for iodine thyroid blocking policy, detailed in the Provincial Nuclear Emergency Response Plan (PNERP),” Ontario’s interim chief medical officer of health Graham Pollett wrote.

Under the provincial plan, municipalities are responsible for giving out potassium iodide pills, he wrote: “This regulation would contravene these arrangements.”

The letter, based on discussions with local medical officers of health, was dated the day before a commission hearing on the issue, held this week.

Pollett raised other issues as well, such as the practical difficulties of distributing pills in areas with lots of seasonal residents, or areas where many people move in and out each year.

That was too much for Binder.

“At the 11th hour to get a letter telling us we have no jurisdiction was a bit, um, precious,” Binder said.

“We are putting this in the licence condition of the operators,” Binder told the hearing. “And while we would like this to be a co-operative initiative, they will deliver, and they will comply with this by December 2015.”

He said he sees no legal problems.

“You don’t need much legal authority to put pills in the mail, and mail them,” Binder said.

He noted that it took 12 years to sort out where to put alarm sirens near the Pickering nuclear station, and said he has no intention of waiting that long for potassium iodide distribution.

The new regulation would make nuclear plant operators responsible for sending pills to “all residences, businesses and institutions” within a designated “plume exposure zone” for each plant.

Ontario uses a 10-kilometre zone, although both Greenpeace and the Canadian Environmental Law Association have questioned whether that’s big enough, and urged planning for larger accidents.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Ontario’s fire marshal and chief of emergency planning Tadeusz (Ted) Wieclawek told this week’s hearing that the province will do its best to have plans in place by Binder’s deadline.

But he said he needs co-operation from others.

“I need to have the support of the Ministry of Health as well as local municipalities.” he said.

Binder said he doesn’t want co-operation to stall action.

“If such co-operation doesn’t work, by December 2015, the licensees will do whatever they can do, and I will defer to our lawyers whether they are allowed to put some things in the mail and mail it,” he said.

Wieclawek said it’s not necessarily that simple:

“If you put something in the mail … and it’s not supported by the municipalities nor supported by our office, and with a really strong public education program explaining why this needs to happen, I’m afraid that our true objective it not going to be achieved,” he said.

“If it was as easy as that, we would have done that ourselves, but the fact is, it’s not that straightforward.”

He pledged to work toward the December 2015 deadline.

Asked for comment, Ontario’s health minister Eric Hoskins sent an emailed statement saying he shares the objective of increasing access to the pills.

“We are working closely with both municipalities and nuclear facilities on plans for the distribution of potassium iodide pills,” he said

“We will continue to collaborate with our federal, provincial and municipal partners to ensure that Ontario is continually ready to respond to a nuclear incident.”