Remember Chernobyl
Today marks the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl Nuclear power plant disaster. Take a moment to remember the brave souls who worked to avert the worst (hard to imagine that the local fireman rushing to the scene some armed with no radioactive protection and only shovels). Despite the fact that the site has been sealed in concrete to this day the epicentre is part of a 30 km “exclusion zone”
Not all involved were so brave or honourable. It took some 2 days before officials told their own people and the world that reactor No. 4 had blown up and was spewing radioactive dust. Meanwhile people in neighbouring countries and eventually the World were contaiminated.
It should also be a sombre reminder to those of us here in Ontario since 40% of our power is coming from Nuclear sources. Canada is the world’s leading uranium producer, accounting for a third of global production and 15% of global reserves. About 85% of Canada’s production is exported for nuclear energy production in the U.S., Japan, and Western Europe, bringing in about Cdn$500 million annually. Canadian policy forbids the export of uranium or nuclear technology for use in nuclear weapons.
Such disasters should be a wake up call. A signal to reverse bad pratices, to learn from mistakes and injustices and heal. The “social costs”, like pollution or health care are not always factored in cost/benefit analysis of these projects. While Canadian reactors are some of the safest in the world and built so they CAN’T serve as a means of refining weapons grade uranium, we still have to live with their waste (for the next 1000 years or so…)
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I have a family member who sometimes lives in Canada… well he does have a house in Mississauga but ends up travelling for years on end for business. He’s an engineer, helping design and modify Nuclear Reactors for a Canadian company. Currently he is in Romania helping them build their reactors and was in China doing the same. Canada is promoting our expertise in building safe reactors and trying to get contracts around the world. Odd that it’s an export of ours, but it is.