Pickering nuclear plant reports water leak

Very true indeed dumping has been going on in the lakes for ages. Not to mention salt mining, I wonder how that affects good ole' new madrid. Sarcasm anyone? I just don't think nuke anything should be on the Great Lakes.

They are still great, aren't they?

reply to post by Unity_99


no, stop looking for things that aren't there.

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reply to post by m.red


Seriously though this is no big deal. This happens all the time during maintenance. Don't worry rest assured you are safe my friend.


RB

reply to post by intrepid


i understand the drop in a bucket logic, but how much oil does it take to contaminate 1000 liters of water? very little.
what is the ratio of contaminated water to fresh water, where fresh water is no longer safe to drink, how do you define safe when the affects lasts years and no matter how small any change in biologic structurs in us or plants and animals is always a bad thing.

i think we are used to killing our planet one drop at a time and each new drop of poison is only explained as ONE drop and its no big deal.

thanks for the math and giving us more info.

Lets see, your car develops a leak doesn't it, nasty oil leaks into the environment? and that requires maintenance right? Well imagine all of the piping and pumps, valves, etc, that are in a nuclear reactor. Leaks happen, even minor ones such as this, and are reported to the proper authority (CNSC, canadian regulator) and the issue is addressed to a level that is acceptable for regulator to ensure the health of the population, animals, etc., was not significant. The safety standards in nuclear are amazing compared to other industries. So again I repeat the following regarding this story,

CNSC, the canadian nuclear regulator has said that the released demineralized water poses a negligible health risk. Take that advice and accept it; the CNSC does their job and does it well and their main focus is on the protection of canadians. Their mandate is to protect canadians. I live in Toronto and have no worries about our CANDU reactors, which are very safe. End of story.

I don't think it really resonates with people what would happen to the planet if the Great Lakes becomes undrinkable. There are plenty of documentaries which address this, I suggest you watch and then form an opinion. I have seen a lot of them. I suggest blue gold, it's popular, on netflix I believe.

How many fractions make a whole? Depends on the size of the fraction you say?

Its almost like we are being desensitized to nuclear disaster.

reply to post by m.red


Sorry but I have to agree.......... and disagree.

This episode is absolutely nothing. How do they control the nuke facilities? Water. The Great Lakes and the oceans have a lock on that. No prob with ANY radiation.

Our industrial waste though is choking the planet to the point it's not going to be able to sustain us any more. If I was the planet I would see that as a HUGE upside. Us gone? Hell it's only the planet and the cockroaches then. Better than what's happening now.

reply to post by porky1981


very true i am not trying to create fear cause this is a small incident, but dont we have the technology to get energy at a less risk to everyone. what is stopping us from making a complete change in our energy system, money. canada is very well off compared to the rest of the world, but we are not exempt from crises on a mass scale, we just dont have to many, the point is no matter how much protection and regulations and safety precautions they take 1% chance of another japan is to much a chance to take, nothing is indestructible.

reply to post by intrepid


We'll have to agree to disagree. I don't think ignoring every "little" story of god knows what dumping into our waters is a good idea. I'm pretty sure people would agree that the companies dumping this stuff, either purposely or accidentally, will always tell us how there's no harm to people or the lake itself...

Michelle

There have been way worse accidents in Ontario's history of nuclear power. Demineralized water is no different than Aquafina or Dasani water. You have probably drank it before.

If it was heavy water it would be another story. Leave it to one accident to cause mass hysteria.

reply to post by boncho


a fail at a nuclear plant is a big deal, yes this is not a major incident and only "water" was released, but the realities of japan show the serious risk of nuclear power, it may not be tomorow or next month or year but accidents happen and the risk is still not justified by the power it creates. the point is we havent learned that nuclear material is a destructive process that they try to contain, anything contained one day will get out and the more power plants we keep building increases the risk, its about knowing what could happen to be able to let the people decide if its worth it. the fact that they dont listen and just say oops is insane. its like haveing a bomb in your basement powering your house when the wind or other alternitave energies do just fine, ok so no big accidents happen with nuclear energy here. but as the plants get bigger and bigger it would only take one or two major accidents to prove that millions can die.
by that time its to late. you see what it can do , dont think it cant happen here. but i hope it dosent.

reply to post by m.red

the fact that they dont listen and just say oops is insane. its like haveing a bomb in your basement powering your house when the wind or other alternitave energies do just fine, ok so no big accidents happen with nuclear energy here.

There are plenty of "oops" moments with just about everything we consume. And nuclear is just the tip of the iceberg. Chemicals have a much worse history. You do know where the term "Mad Hatter" came from right?

I'm not a proponent of nuclear energy, but I also don't like sensationalism.

reply to post by boncho


true i dont mean to over hype the situation but this is real life. if you ask anyone in or around japan, im pretty sure they will say this was not worth powering there homes for all those years, this is the lives of countless human biengs, and all we can do is pray they are ok and they will get out of harms way. but it makes you think if you could save countless lives and the suffering of generations. it starts with knowing the worst case scenario and not downplaying it as it could never happen. this is a nuclear meltdown in japan the biggest the world has ever seen. now is a good time to hype it up so people will get the seriousness of building these nuclear reactors all over the world. and mabye some will come to there sences and realize this is not a good tool for the human race to play with.

if the hatter knew what Mercury did before he made the hats dont you think he would have used something else?
we live and then we learn and now is a good time to learn from what we have lived.

That is why I am for a resource based economy.

Originally posted by the owlbear
It's about profit. Pure and simple. My brother in law works in the US navy as a nuke tech on a sub. He just posted some link on Facebook from some guy who works in the nuclear energy industry who claimed if the DIESEL generators had worked, we wouldn't be talking about Japanese reactors. Talk about passing the buck! Later, he claimed that only 20% of power could be generated from "green" sources "on a good day". The question I posited was "why should we trust anyone's figures for energy output when they themselves work for the FOR PROFIT nuclear (or petro, or coal) energy industries?" That energy would cut into their bottom line and their paychecks. What incentive do they have to tell the truth? Just some questions...

reply to post by m.red


I have lived in Pickering my whole life. The power plant releases de-mineralized water (heavy water) which is uncontaminated into lake Ontario on a regular basis. The media is hyping this one up due to recent events in Japan.

reply to post by west686


national post says there is trace amounts of radioactive material.
the rods sit in a bay of water to cool them down, this is that water.
the water contains 6 to 10 Becquerel of hydrogen3 per liter
safe drinking water is 7000 Becquerel per liter
- 73,000 liters times say 6-10 Becquerel =438,000 to 730,000 Becquerel
730,000 divided by 7,000 so like 100 liters of highly contaminated water dispersed into 73,000 liters
ok the real math by their numbers (if they are honest) is a drop in the bucket
sorry for over hyping but that is my lake where i fish and swim and bring my kids so i have a right to be concerned until i get answers
and i have answered myself.
thank you all.

i do find it weird that they want to change the safe amount to 20 Becquerel cause if that were true then the numbers would be way off.

at 7,000 becquerel its 0.0014% contaminated
at 20 becquerel its 50% contaminated

so it all depends what they say is safe and thats a big difference.

The provincial standard for tritium in drinking water is 7,000 becqerels per litre, though the Ontario Drinking Water Advisory Council has recommended a substantial reduction, to 20 becquerels per litre.

Ontario Power Generation will launch an investigation after a swimming pool’s worth of water containing trace amounts of radioactive material leaked into Lake Ontario from a Pickering nuclear plant.

national post

reply to post by m.red

if the hatter knew what Mercury did before he made the hats dont you think he would have used something else?
we live and then we learn and now is a good time to learn from what we have lived.
edit on 16-3-2011 by m.red because: (no reason given)

Canada has a ban on Asbestos, but it still exports it to India. No, humans never learn. That is our biggest problem.

reply to post by boncho


so true so very true our solution sell our problems to someone else. where there is less restriction on anything.

Originally posted by m.red
reply to post by west686

 

national post says there is trace amounts of radioactive material.
the rods sit in a bay of water to cool them down, this is that water.
the water contains 6 to 10 Becquerel of hydrogen3 per liter
safe drinking water is 7000 Becquerel per liter
- 73,000 liters times say 6-10 Becquerel =438,000 to 730,000 Becquerel
730,000 divided by 7,000 so like 100 liters of highly contaminated water dispersed into 73,000 liters
ok the real math by their numbers (if they are honest) is a drop in the bucket
sorry for over hyping but that is my lake where i fish and swim and bring my kids so i have a right to be concerned until i get answers
and i have answered myself.
thank you all.

i do find it weird that they want to change the amount to 20 Becquerel cause if that were true then the numbers would be way off.

at 7,000 becquerel its 0.0014% contaminated
at 20 becquerel its 50% contaminated

so it all depends what they say is safe and thats a big difference.

The provincial standard for tritium in drinking water is 7,000 becqerels per litre, though the Ontario Drinking Water Advisory Council has recommended a substantial reduction, to 20 becquerels per litre.

Ontario Power Generation will launch an investigation after a swimming pool’s worth of water containing trace amounts of radioactive material leaked into Lake Ontario from a Pickering nuclear plant.

national post

edit on 16-3-2011 by m.red because: (no reason given)

you swim in lake ontario? I wouldn't go near that lake with a ten foot pole.. pretty nasty.

reply to post by porky1981


my point exactly its polluted in most areas and what ever little we have left is shrinking by the day, if nothing has ever happened to our lake then why is it so bad. one drop at a time is an acceptable level they say it wont do any damage.
as you know most beaches are closed due to acceptable levels being dumped over time and that adds up.