Stop the Hogs!

Uranium development pitch by Wall ignores key factors

The StarPhoenix Friday, June 01, 2007

In recent speeches about uranium development, Opposition Leader Brad Wall forgot several factors.

He forgot the arsenic, radium-226 with a radioactive half-life (r/h/l) of 1,600 years and thorium-230 (r/h/l 75,400 years) that are in the uranium mining wastes stored in the giant JEB pit, a danger to our water systems if the surrounding water pumps stop working.

Wall forgot the dangers of the enrichment process -- the large amounts of hydrochloric acid and fluorides that threaten the region's groundwater. He didn't mention the impact of ammonia, nitrous oxide and fluorides on the asthma and breathing problems of residents and workers, or the chlorofluorcarbons that are 1,000 times more damaging to the ozone layer than carbon dioxide.

He didn't mention the 33,000 cubic metres of water per per day used at Port Hope and forgot that nuclear reactor plants give off tritium ( r/h/l 13 years), carbon-14 (r/h/l 5,730 years) and plutonium-239 (r/h/l 24,400 years.)

This isn't "clean" energy.

Wall forgot the 200 deadly chemicals that result from burnt fuel pellets in reactors -- uranium-238 (r/h/l 710,000 years), iodine-129 (r/h/l 15.8 million years), plutonium-239 (r/h/l 24,400 years). Already there are 34,000 tonnes of it stored in swimming pools, with nowhere to go.

Wall didn't mention the hoax of safe storage of high level wastes in deep rock caverns. Brine, under extreme pressure, lies under the Canadian Shield rock, evidenced by is continuous seepage into gold mines and the deep-rock experimental shaft at Pinawa, MB, abandoned by AECL.

Wall forgot the increased radiation for our youth and workers in the uranium business, with specialists saying there are no "safe levels of exposure."

In his desperation for votes and increased business opportunities, Wall seems to have developed a serious condition known as "nuclear amnesia."

Bill Adamson
Saskatoon

© The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) 2007

June 6, 2007

I will add to Bill Adamson's summary the fact that, as the uranium leaves Saskatchewan, it moves on to nuclear weapons manufacturers and to rods in nuclear power stations.

As the power stations "deplete", the leftover uranium is used to harden munitions for use against American "enemies" in Yugoslavia, Iraq, and Afghanistan, where these "depleted" uranium shells release radioactive vapour and dust for soldiers and millions of plants, animals and men and women and babies ingest this poison, and will do so for many generations.

We in Saskatchewan and Canada are therefore complicit in continuous murder of life on our planet.

It's discouraging to note that the investors in the stock market are happy about all this murder by proxy.

It's also discouraging to note that Iranians and others think they are making progress by developing nuclear power plants for electricity.

And that the nuclear arms race cold war is heating up again.

...Jacob Rempel, Vancouver

Sask. may try small nuclear reactors: premier

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/saskatchewan/story/2011/01/20/
sk-reactors-wall-110120.html

Last Updated: Thursday, January 20, 2011 | 1:24 PM CST CBC News
The Saskatchewan government may have shelved plans for large-scale nuclear reactors, but some mini-reactors might still be a possibility, Premier Brad Wall says.
Wall says the government hopes to announce a partnership with a private company soon to research small nuclear reactors that would more easily plug into the province's existing electrical grid.
"You know, we have a whole lot of 300-megawatt coal plants all over the world," he said in Regina on Wednesday. "Is there a chance to replace them in the future with smaller reactors so you're not building up new grids but plugging them into existing places?"
Wall said there is also potential for more nuclear medicine in Saskatchewan, noting that Prince Edward Island is the only other province that has to send patients away for PET (positron emission tomography) scans used to diagnose certain cancers and other diseases.
The province is a world leader in uranium production but doesn't refine the radioactive metal or have any nuclear power plants.
A province with so much uranium should be a leader in making use of it, Wall said.
More than a year ago, Wall's government gave what it called a "yellow light" — and not a green light — to nuclear power after a series of public meetings.
That's when it decided a proposed nuclear power plant was too expensive for this province, Wall said.
"Our government didn't make its decision with respect to a conventional reactor because of political pressure. In fact, I'd argue that those opposed to adding value to uranium or looking at nuclear power in this province are in the minority," Wall said.

MORE:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/saskatchewan/story/2011/01/20/
sk-reactors-wall-110120.html

Small reactors raise alarms - Environment group wary of gov't initiative

http://www.thestarphoenix.com/technology/
Small+reactors+raise+alarms/4176449/story.html

BY JAMES WOOD, THE STAR PHOENIX JANUARY 27, 2011
The stumbling blocks around nuclear power don't go away just because a reactor is small, says the province's most prominent environmental group.
Premier Brad Wall recently announced the Saskatchewan Party government would fire up its nuclear agenda, including striking a deal with a private-sector company to research the feasibility of small-scale reactors for supplying power around the world and in Saskatchewan.
Small-scale reactors produce less than 500 megawatts of power. In 2009, the Sask. Party government closed the door on a proposal to build two 1,000-megawatt reactors, saying they were too costly and too large for Saskatchewan's power grid.
Ann Coxworth of the Saskatchewan Environmental Society said if Saskatchewan looks at small reactors, it should do so in the context of a badly needed overall energy strategy.
"I think it's unlikely that it would be selected as one of the favourable options both from the point of view of economics and environmental impact. The costs of nuclear power production will not shrink in proportion to the size of the facility," she said in an interview this week.
"You're still going to have to deal with the issues of waste management and security and product quality control whether it's a small reactor or a large reactor. I think that electricity produced from a small power reactor is still going to end up being more expensive than most of the other options."
Coxworth noted the province has been down this path before.

MORE:
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/technology/
Small+reactors+raise+alarms/4176449/story.html

MORE INFO ON SMALL REACTORS:http://forum.stopthehogs.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=759

WALL LAUNCHES NEW CENTRE FOR RESEARCH IN NUCLEAR MEDICINE AND MATERIALS SCIENCE AT U OF S

http://www.gov.sk.ca/
news?newsId=d5453e12-8e41-4f30-a9af-1cd0c5bae957

News Release - March 2, 2011

Premier Brad Wall and Minister responsible for Innovation Rob Norris today announced $30 million in funding over seven years to establish a new research centre at the University of Saskatchewan that will re-establish the province as an international leader in nuclear science and nuclear medicine.

"In the early 1950's, scientists at the University of Saskatchewan pioneered the use of Cobalt 60 for cancer treatment," Wall said. "Today we are taking another important step in re-capturing that international leadership position in nuclear medicine and expanding it to include research in materials science and small reactor design."

The province's $30 million investment in nuclear research builds on January's announcement of $12 million in funding from the federal and provincial governments to build a new linear accelerator and support research into the production of medical isotopes at the Canadian Light Source.

"Our province produces 10.2 million kilograms of uranium annually, and as the Premier is fond of saying, the next ounce of yellowcake we add value to will be the first," Norris said. "Today's announcement and some other exciting announcements in the coming days and weeks, are significant signposts on the road to developing excellence in a number of different nuclear-related fields."

University of Saskatchewan President Peter MacKinnon welcomed the provincial investment and said the new research centre will complement and strengthen the university's existing nuclear research infrastructure. That includes the Canadian Light Source synchrotron, the Saskatchewan Research Council's SLOWPOKE research reactor and the university's STOR-M Tokamak fusion reactor.

"Our new research centre will focus on nuclear science and engineering, materials and neutron science and nuclear health sciences," MacKinnon said. "It will also facilitate an expansion of academic programs in nuclear engineering, nuclear and reactor physics and radiochemistry.

"With this exciting new multi-disciplinary centre, the U of S will build on its historical strengths to become an international centre of excellence in nuclear research, training and innovation, as well as in studies into the full environmental and social context of nuclear development," MacKinnon said. "We will be able to hire new faculty researchers, support many graduate students and seize new opportunities for leading-edge research."

Norris said the new centre will make Saskatchewan the focal point for nuclear research and development in Western Canada.

"The new centre will spark research partnerships with industry, universities and other research institutions," Norris said. "Work will include development of advanced materials for construction, aerospace and small reactor designs, and medical imaging for diagnosis of cancer and heart disease."

"Our government has long been committed to innovation, and this new centre marks a bold start to a new venture," Wall said. "I look forward to more exciting announcements here at the University of Saskatchewan in the days and weeks to come that will build on today's investment in nuclear research." -30-

For more information, contact:

Kathy Young, Executive Council, Regina
Phone: 306-787-0425
Email: kathy.young@gov.sk.ca

Michael Robin, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon
Phone: 306-966-1425
Email: michael.robin@usask.ca

= = = = = =

Sk. spending $30M on nuclear research centre

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/
2011/03/02/sk-nuclear-money-1102.html

CBC News Posted: Mar 2, 2011 11:50 AM ET Last Updated: Mar 2, 2011 12:12 PM ET
The Saskatchewan government will spend $30 million to create a new nuclear research centre at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon.
The money, to be spent over seven years, will be used to expand nuclear medicine but also materials science and small reactor design, Premier Brad Wall said in a news release.
University of Saskatchewan president Peter MacKinnon said the research centre will focus on nuclear science and engineering, materials and neutron science and nuclear health sciences.
There will be new staff hired and academic programs added in nuclear engineering, nuclear and reactor physics and radiochemistry, MacKinnon said.
The money will add to the existing nuclear research infrastructure on campus, which includes the Canadian Light Source synchrotron, the SLOWPOKE research reactor and the STOR-M Tokamak device, MacKinnon said. [ . . . . ][/b]