OTTAWA -
CTV News says Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt or one of her aides left behind sensitive government documents at the network's bureau in Ottawa.
The report says the documents, some of which were marked "secret," show Ottawa has poured far more money into the aging Chalk River nuclear reactor than the public has been told.
Crown-owned Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., shut down the reactor on May 15 after a power outage. Officials found a heavy-water leak the next day and say the reactor, which produces a third of the global supply of isotopes used in cancer and heart scans, will be off-line for at least three months.
The report says the documents, headlined "Background for discussion with chair of Atomic Energy Canada," list millions of dollars in funding for the corporation that have not been made public, including $72 million to "maintain the option of isotope production."
CTV News says the documents also include a hand-written note that lists total funding for Atomic Energy of Canada, Ltd. since 2006 at $1.7 billion, and then a talking-point memo describing the spending as "cleaning up a Liberal mess."
