Speaker: Basma Shalaby AECL Topic: Meet AECL's Chief Engineer Location: J.L. Gray Centre Deep River, Ont. Date: Thursday, November 25, 1999 (8:00 pm) Summary published in The North Renfrew Times, December 2, 1999:

AECL's Chief Engineer Gives Presentation by Bryan White On Thursday, November 25 the Algonquin Chapter of the Professional Engineers of Ontario and the Chalk River Branch of the Canadian Nuclear Society co-hosted a seminar by Basma Shalaby, P.Eng., Chief Engineer of AECL. Gord Brooks and Dan Meneley preceded Ms. Shalaby as head of the Office of the Chief Engineer, OCE. Ms. Shalaby has worked for AECL for 24 years in technical and management positions. She is a chemical engineering graduate of the University of Waterloo, and holds a M.Sc. in chemistry. Ms. Shalaby described the role of the OCE as: satisfying the regulatory requirements for AECL as a design engineering company, developing and maintaining the Corporate Design Quality Assurance program consistent with national standards, providing oversight for the design activities of projects and service contracts, providing the primary interface with the Atomic Energy Control Board, and responding to demands for technical assistance. She illustrated this "fire fighting" role of the OCE with examples such as the design changes for the Main Steam Isolation Valves supplied to the Wolsung 2, 3, 4 CANDU 600 MWe nuclear power plants. With the assistance of technical staff including Bruce Smith of CRL and the manufacturer of the valves, the design of the valve cavities was optimised to reduce the audible noise generated in operation. The OCE has a staff of 15. Of the 8 technical members, three are located in Deep River. As the OCE is independent of the cost and schedule concerns of projects, it performs formal design reviews for AECL projects. The OCE supplements its resources by drawing on technical experts from throughout the Company when required. The OCE is empowered to "blow the whistle" on projects or products when it concludes that a change in course is required. The OCE provides technical support for marketing and corporate relations initiatives. The OCE staff participates in international technical meetings and provides expert missions to the IAEA.