Canada nuclear safety watchdog names Binder as president

Michael Binder, PhD. Source: Dalehouse University

Michael Binder has been named as the permanent head of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, according to the National Post.

Binder, previously an assistant deputy minister with the department of industry, has held various posts in the federal civil service, most recently that of assistant deputy minister at Industry Canada.

He was named interim president of the commission, after Linda Keen was fired in January as president for her role in a global isotope shortage brought on by the shutdown last fall of Atomic Energy Canada Ltd.'s nuclear reactor in Chalk River, Ontario.

The closure caused a global shortage of medical isotopes and threatened critical diagnostic testing and cancer treatments, according to the Canadian government.