Wall must ignore nuclear hype, make an informed decision
“……………………………..the legitimacy of nuclear power as a cost-efficient energy source was dealt a severe blow this week with the news that the Ontario government has suspended the tender to build two new reactors at Darlington — part of a $26-billion nuclear building refurbishment plan. This development has certainly put a perspective on the foremost problem with nuclear power development — the exorbitant pricetag — that business proponents like the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce have sadly been downplaying.
New study: Nuclear workers at higher risk for cancer –
New study: Nuclear workers at higher risk for cancer Brattleboro Reformer By BOB AUDETTE, Reformer Staff July 2BRATTLEBORO — Are nuclear power plant workers at higher risk to die of cancer?A study conducted by a Canadian researcher concluded the risk is substantially higher to them than to the general public.The document, “Exposure to Radiation and Health Outcomes” was made public last week. It was written by Mark Lemstra, who was formerly a senior research epidemiologist for the Saskatoon, Canada, Health Region……………………In the radiation report, in which Lemstra reviewed 1,725 articles related to radiation studies, he concluded that nuclear power plant workers have a “relative excess risk” of getting cancer.
In epidemiology, excess risk is defined as the difference between the proportion of subjects in a population with a particular disease who were exposed to a specific risk factor and the proportion of subjects with that same disease who were not exposed.
In the case of nuclear power plant workers, that risk factor is low-dose radiation.
New study: Nuclear workers at higher risk for cancer – Brattleboro Reformer
Reactor design puts safety into question
Reactor design puts safety of nuclear plants into question Globe and Mai Jun. 29, 2009 Feature speeds up rate of atomic reactions in event of a coolant leak; regulators say they misjudged size of the problem
Martin Mittelstaedt
If reactors are not shut down quickly, their ability to keep radioactivity from escaping would be put to the test, according to an internal commission document.
The document says Canada’s seven nuclear stations, which all use Candu technology, have a feature known as “positive reactivity feedback,” in which their atomic chain reactions automatically speed up if the water pumped into the reactors to cool them leaks, one of the worst accidents possible at a nuclear station. If reactors aren’t immediately shut down during this type of incident, positive reactivity leads to a quick snowballing in the pace of nuclear reactions, which in turn could cause potentially damaging overheating.
The fear is that with a large loss of coolant, such overheating could put the nuclear facilities’ containment features – the concrete domes and other protective mechanisms around reactors that are the last-ditch defences to stop the spread of radioactivity into the environment – to a dangerous test.
Reactor design puts safety into question – The Globe and Mail
A holy terror
A holy terror Catholic archbishops speak out against nuclear reactors VICTORIA HANDYSIDES METRO NEWS 18 June 09 EDMONTON Toxic waste, terrorist threats and depleted natural resources could be part of Alberta’s future if nuclear reactors are erected in the province, a reality of which citizens are largely unaware, Alberta’s Catholic archbishops said yesterday. Continue reading
Ottawa to spend $6M seeking medical isotope alternatives
Approval for alternative types of medical isotopes such as thallium for cardiac scans and sodium fluoride for bone scans has also been been sped up, Aglukkaq said.”Although the next month is going to be challenging with Petten down as well, I believe that the increasing use of those two alternatives really does give us a significant step up in coping with the need to help our patients,” said Dr. Sandy McEwan, the federal government’s new special adviser on medical isotopes.Also on Tuesday, Ontario’s Health Ministry announced it will pay $1.4 million in one-time funding to produce sodium fluoride as an alternative diagnostic procedure for about 2,000 cancer patients.
AECL worried about Ont. nuclear cost overruns
AECL worried about Ont. nuclear cost overrunsUpdated:
Tue Jun. 09 2009 8:56:31 PMctvtoronto.caAs Ontario comes close to deciding who it will pay $20 billion to build two new nuclear reactors, the Canadian bidder is already worried that it will face large cost overruns.The warnings are contained in the secret documents left by a former member of Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt’s staff at CTV’s Ottawa bureau recently.In the documents is a page dealing with the bid by Atomic Energy Canada Ltd. (AECL), which hopes to win the contract. On that page is the following statement: “… There is the risk there could be large cost overruns.”……..
….The last nuclear plant constructed in Ontario was the Darlington project, which went over-budget by about $15 billion when it was finally opened nearly 20 years ago. Ontario’s hydro customers are still playing off that debt.
Nuclear power consultation process blasted by Northern Alberta residents
Nuclear power consultation process blasted by Northern Alberta residents By Hanneke Brooymans, edmontonjournal.com une 5, 2009 EDMONTON — Citizens who gathered in Edmonton Friday to participate in a provincial government consultation on nuclear power blasted the process for being secretive and rushed………………………….
Citizens who don’t want nuclear power plants in Alberta say the entire consultation process on the issue has been biased, beginning with the expert report released earlier this year.
They also found the five weeks given to the public to fill out a survey workbook was too short.
Albertans were given 75 days to offer their thoughts on new licence plates and 60 days on parks consultations, said Mark Sandilands, a member of a southern Alberta environmental group called Greensence.
The group is pushing for the provincial government to also run a public consultation process on renewable energy options.
Nuclear power consultation process blasted by Northern Alberta residents
Anti-nuclear opinions dominate uranium forum in Regina
Anti-nuclear opinions dominate uranium forum in Regina By Angela Hall, Leader-PostJune 5, 2009 REGINA — More than 400 people gathered in Regina to weigh in on the province’s nuclear options, with many in the crowd firmly opposed to the idea of building a reactor………………
During the open microphone portion of the meeting Thursday night, Regina resident Ron Bocking asked those opposed to nuclear power to raise their hand — which prompted most of the crowd to cheer and put up their arm.
“I’m strongly opposed to nuclear energy for three main reasons,” said Bocking, calling it economically unfeasible, dangerous due to the waste that has to be isolated from the environment and unnecessary. “There’s many other forms of energy.”………………………
Others called for a bigger focus on renewable energy options.
“Why isn’t there a public meeting of this size talking about solar and wind?” asked one man.
Nuclear power? Great! Nuclear waste? Wait! | Canada | News | Toronto Sun
Nuclear power? Great! Nuclear waste? Wait! By JONATHAN JENKINS, QUEEN’S PARK BUREAUL Toronto Sun : 26th May 2009,
Cabinet minister Rick Bartolucci is 100% for his government’s plans to build new nuclear reactors and 100% against storing their waste in his constituency.
“I don’t see a conflict in regard to my government’s direction at all,” Bartolucci, the minister for community safety and corrections, said yesterday.
Nuclear power? Great! Nuclear waste? Wait! | Canada | News | Toronto Sun
Canada to Seek Buyers for Atomic Energy of Canada, Globe Says – Bloomberg.com
Canada to Seek Buyers for Atomic Energy of Canada, Globe Says
By Greg Quinn
May 28 (Bloomberg) — Canada will seek buyers for part of Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., seeking to boost sales of its Candu reactors, and is looking for new managers of a damaged reactor that makes medical isotopes, the Globe and Mail newspaper said.
The state-owned company would be split into a Candu division and a division for the isotope-producing reactor, the newspaper said, citing people it didn’t name who are familiar with the plans.
The isotope reactor will remain shut down for at least three months to make emergency repairs, and about C$7 billion ($6.3 billion) is needed for waste clean up at the site, the newspaper said.
Canada to Seek Buyers for Atomic Energy of Canada, Globe Says – Bloomberg.com
‘Major’ problem plagues reactor
‘Major’ problem plagues reactor
Former watchdog warns of looming crisis
Edmonton Sun PETER.ZIMONJIC 27th May 2009, – “…………………..Linda Keen, the former head of Canada’s nuclear watchdog. …..’We are in a situation that’s worse than in December 2007……’………………When she was president of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, Keen forced Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. to extend a shutdown of the reactor at Chalk River until it could meet federal safety standards…………………….At the time, the federal government called an emergency sitting of parliament where all parties voted to unanimously to overrule Keen and restart the reactor regardless of whether AECL, the Crown corporation that owns and operates the reactor, had complied with safety regulations.
Then in January 2008 Keen was fired as president of the CNSC the night before she was to appear before the natural resources committee to give evidence about the crisis. Since then Keen has remained out of the public eye but this latest shutdown has prompted her to speak out.
HEAVY WATER LEAK
The reactor went down again May 14 and AECL said it wouldn’t be back up until mid-June at the earliest. Others have suggested it could take up to eight months to make the repairs if they’re even possible.
AECL is now trying to find and fix a heavy water leak in the reactor.
Keen called it a “major” problem because the container holding the heavy water is the main fail-safe device in case of a meltdown.
http://www.edmontonsun.com/news/canada/2009/05/27/9582931-sun.html
Doctors urged to use diagnostic alternatives to reactor-produced isotopes
Doctors urged to use diagnostic alternatives to reactor-produced isotopesLaura Eggertson CMAJ Laura Eggertson 26 May 09 The Canadian affiliate of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War is urging doctors to use diagnostic alternatives to procedures that require reactor-based ionizing radiation, because of links between the way medical isotopes are produced and the nuclear weapons industry…………………….. Edwards, a professor at Vanier College in Montréal, Quebec, and consultant on nuclear issues, says that makes the uranium a potential target for terrorists in search of material to build a nuclear bomb. “Now I know that most doctors don’t think there’s a connection between medical isotopes and bombs, but unfortunately there is,” Edwards, who is also president of the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility, told CMAJ. The connection is that molybdenum-99 is broken down into technetium-99m, that is used in about 1.5 million nuclear medicine procedures in Canada annually, Edwards earlier said to about 40 physicians at St. Paul’s University in Ottawa, Ont.
An open, honest nuclear debate
An open, honest nuclear debate Alberta’s ‘public consultation’ on nuclear power seems designed to quash any opposition to the plan canada.com By Douglas Roche, 19 May 2009
The consultation process launched by the Alberta government to determine if a nuclear power plant should be built in the Peace River area appears designed to dampen any opposition to the plan.
The Alberta nuclear consultation survey is cleverly formulated to intimidate all those without a scientific background, for example, asking the responders if they can explain the details of Alberta’s electricity system or nuclear energy to others. The responder is asked to affirm whether or not: “I was very familiar with the history of nuclear use in Canada.” In other words, if you don’t have a technical background, is your opinion worth much? Why bother to proceed if you’re not an expert?………..
……………………The report of the nuclear power expert panel and the government’s subsequent workbook downplay the risk of nuclear accidents, the staggering costs to taxpayers of nuclear power, the link between nuclear power and nuclear weapons, and the immense new potential of alternate sources of energy……………………………
A new study by the Pembina Institute found Alberta could go from producing more than 70 per cent of its electricity from coal to 70 per cent from clean energy sources in just 20 years, based on existing technology and rates of deployment already seen in other jurisdictions.
Using proven renewable energy technologies, combined with industrial co-generation and a serious commitment to improved consumption efficiency, Alberta could satisfy its growing demand for power while dramatically reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other harmful environmental impacts……………..
……………..For every argument that nuclear power is entering a “renaissance,” there is another that it is headed for obsolescence.
Biased pro-nuclear report is challenged
Full of problems or ripe with promise?
Meridian Booster By Graham Mason 14 May 09
With the Uranium Development Partnership report being presented to the public next month there is a question over how much the environment was taken into consideration in its glowing conclusions.
The report, titled Capturing the Full Potential of the Uranium Value Chain in Saskatchewan, was released March 31.
The nuclear and uranium industry were well represented on the 12-person panel with Duncan Hawthorne, president and CEO of Bruce Power, Armand Laferrere, president and CEO of Areva Canada, and Jerry Grandey, president and CEO of Cameco Corporation. ……………
……………Dr. Patrick Moore founding member of Greenpeace, was the only member to identify himself as an environmentalist.
In a statement before a U.S. congressional committee in Apr. 2005, he described his views on nuclear power generation where he described himself as an ‘environmental moderate.’
………………………………The Saskatchewan Environmental Society couldn’t disagree more in a recent nuclear pamphlet.
“The real solutions to climate change lie in the area of energy efficiency and renewable energy,” said the report. “If we were to provide the same level of support for these options as we have done for the nuclear industry, we could move much faster into the sustainable, low-carbon energy economy which is where the future lies.
The report argues nuclear is not an alternative to fossil-fuelled plants, rather they are both part of an environmentally unsustainable approach to the electricity system.
Coxworth questions whether Moore qualifies to be the environmental conscience of the report.
“Patrick Moore … is a paid consultant to the nuclear industry,” said Coxworth. “Labelling him by his past Greenpeace involvement would be somewhat analogous to identifying me solely by the fact that long ago I worked for the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission.”
“Doubtless some of the other partnership members have taken some environmental classes as part of their technical education.”
Local public consultations are at Lakeland College on June 10, the Don Ross Centre in North Battleford on June 11 http://www.meridianbooster.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1566432
Seismic activity makes nuclear power unsafe, says geologist
Seismic activity makes nuclear power unsafe, says geologistP ALOMA MIGONE – Herald-Tribune staff 13 May 09 – “……………………
The most recent earthquake occurred near the proposed nuclear plant site in Peace River on Feb. 19 with a magnitude of 3.2.
There was another earthquake recorded near Fort St. John in the ’80s and another near Snipe Lake, which is east of Valleyview, in the ’70s.
“This would be the most foolish place in Alberta to even think of putting a nuclear plant,” he said.
The concern is that over the course of many small earthquakes, a nuclear power plant would suffer “fractures,” weakening the structure and making it unsafe.
‘ADDED DANGER’
“The facilities of the nuclear plant, the concrete, the piping, over time they corrode, they get weaker and this is simply an added danger to the safety of the plant.”
Adele Boucher Rymhs from Citizens Against Nuclear Development said agreeing to a nuclear plan now would pass the problem to residents’ kids and grandchildren.
“Thirty years, 40 years from now, they are the ones who will suffer from problems if they occur.”
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