Nuclear Critic Predicts More Shutdowns Even After Point Lepreau Returns To Service

The long delayed refurbishment of the Point Lepreau nuclear power plant is scheduled to be finished by September but will that be the end of the shutdowns? 

David Coon of the Conservation Council doesn’t think so. He predicts there will be another shutdown within a year or so of returning to service. 

Coon bases his prediction on the mix of new and old equipment which he maintains will translate into mechanical problems.
 
He argues the plant was never designed to last fifty years and he predicts periodic shutdowns will be the norm.

 
Posted by at 1:05 PM
 
 

Nuclear watchdog calls for inquiry into series of incidents at Lepreau

The CCNB Action Saint John Fundy Chapter calls on Premier Alward and Energy Minister Leonard to immediately activate a public inquiry into the recent serious safety incidents at the Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating station.

Public Forums in Saint John on Wednesday, November 30th

Public Forums in Saint John on Wednesday, November 30th

Questioning the Restart of Point Lepreau: Lessons Learned from Fukushima and Beyond.

The Facts You Won’t Get from NB Power

About the Risks of Running a Refurbished Lepreau.

Bring your questions and comments for our panel, which includes:

Dr. Michel Duguay, Ph.D. in Nuclear Physics and Professor of Electrical Engineering,  Laval University and Director of MSQN (Movement for a Nuclear-Free Quebec)

Dr. Gordon Edwards, Ph.D in Mathematics, Director of Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility (CCNR)

Sharon Murphy and Chris Rouse of CCNB Action (Saint John/Fundy chapter)

The panelists will address specific risks to public health and safety if the refurbished Point Lepreau reactor is ever restarted. On December 1st and 2nd these expert critics of the proposal to restart Lepreau will officially present their concerns to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) during its Saint John public hearing on NB Power’s application to refuel and restart the Lepreau nuclear reactor in 2012 and renew its operating license for 5 more years.

Among the issues the panel will discuss are critical underestimations, downplaying, and ignoring of certain risks from earthquakes, unresolved reactor control problems and operator/human error.

These Public Forums, both on November 30, are scheduled as follows:

3-5 p.m.               Oland Hall, Room 104, on the main campus of UNBSJ

7:30-9:30 p.m.   Ft. Howe Hotel, Harbour Passage Room,

10 Portland St., uptown Saint John

Sponsors include UNBSJ, Council of Canadians/Saint John chapter, CCNB Action/Saint John Fundy chapter, Sierra Club of Canada/Atlantic Canada chapter, and other organizations affiliated in the Lepreau Decommissioning Coalition. For further information call (506) 849-0285 or 635-1297 (Saint John), or 529-4982 (St. Andrews).

Bumper Stickers for Sale

Fukushima -Do not let it happen here

Fukushima! Don't let it happen here! Close Pt. Lepreau

Bumper stickers available (for free but donations welcome to recover costs).

Contact info [at] ccnbaction.ca

Al Jazeera: Fukushima radiation alarms doctors 

Scientists and doctors are calling for a new national policy in Japan that mandates the testing of food, soil, water, and the air for radioactivity still being emitted from Fukushima’s heavily damaged Daiichi nuclear power plant.

Japan’s Fukushima catastrophe brings big radiation spikes to B.C.

Across the Pacific Ocean, it took only a few days after the disaster for radioactive fallout to start showing up in drinking water and milk across North America. Governments in both Canada and the U.S. monitored the radioactivity, but their data is reported in such a confusing and irregular way that it’s extremely difficult to determine if maximum contamination levels have been exceeded and how public health is being impacted. Read more… 

The world’s nuclear reactors as you’ve never seen them…

To get a better idea of the world’s current tally of nuclear reactors, I’ve created a map of the world’s nuclear power plants and reactors using Google Earth – the maps are based on a database kindly supplied to me by staff at the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) Power Reactor Information System (PRIS) database, so it’s reliable, and up-to-date.

Radioactivity from Japanese reactor detected in New Brunswick

By Willi Nolan, International Institute of Concern for Public Health

The public is being misled about health risks from Point Lepreau.

The people of New Brunswick are as concerned about the safety of nuclear power plants as everyone else these days.  Aggravating these concerns, their public utility owns a Candu reactor at the Point Lepreau generating station that is undergoing an extremely problematic, first-of-its-kind life extension project. It is also built along an active earthquake fault. This month, NB Power detected radioactive iodine at Point Lepreau and more Canadians began expressing concern about the safety of Point Lepreau.

Read more here.

How is Saskatchewan involved with Japan’s nuclear disaster?

By Jim Harding

THE SASKATCHEWAN CONNECTION
The Fukushima’s nuclear reactors which are steadily contaminating Japan’s atmosphere, seashore, watersheds, food chains and making millions of Japanese into nuclear refugees are owned and operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co. or Tepco. Tepco has Saskatchewan connections. The Globe and Mail describes Tepco as “one of (Cameco’s) largest customers for uranium used to fuel nuclear power plants”, and there is little doubt that much of the radioactive contamination threatening Japan comes from uranium fuel mined in northern Saskatchewan. And Tepco is directly involved in this mining; since the 1990s it has been Cameco’s partner in the massive Cigar Lake mine, which has itself had serious “accidents” and is years behind its production schedule due to recurring underground flooding.
Read More…

Doctors express “deep concern” about Fukushima impacts on Canada

How do we know how much radiation is reaching Canada from Fukushima? Physicians for Global Survival asked, in a press release today.  They added that physicians for Global Survival “would like more openness from safety regulators and government about all isotopes, honesty about methods of measurement and regular updates about risks to vulnerable populations.”  Read more… 

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