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CDN Forces Reactor Online Against Safety Regulations

Socguy writes "The Canadian government has passed legislation that will reopen an Ontario nuclear reactor that produces most of the world's supply of critical medical isotopes, even though the site has been shut down for safety maintenance. Witnesses and experts were called in to the House to face questions about safety concerns and all parties eventually voiced support for the bill, which would effectively suspend CNSC's oversight role for 120 days. The Chalk River reactor ceased operating on Nov. 18. Pressure on the government to restart operations began to build after delays in the shutdown of the government-run site, which generates two-thirds of the world's radioisotopes, began to cause a critical shortage of radioisotopes."

7 of 338 comments (clear)

  1. Per chance... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    It wasn't per chance shut down because it "leaked" all those radioisotopes, was it? It is Canadian, after all, eh?

  2. The Regulator is right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission is absolutely right to shut the plant down. It's unfortunate that patients are going to have to wait, but if something happens to the plant, they'll be waiting a heck of a lot longer. The PM will be eating his words if something goes down in the near future.

  3. another thing people are overlooking: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    This reactor is in fucking Canada, so even if it explodes and destroys a million sqare miles and kills a million Canadians, who cares?

  4. Re:your wife's water just broke by megaditto · · Score: -1, Troll

    Have you considered that cancer, heart attacks, antibiotics allergies, and brain dementias are all Darwin's way of adding chlorine to the gene pool?

    The cute little dinosaurs were not fit to compete with mammals, so they died (and fuck them).
    But that lovely child with the Down syndrome that consumes resources of a half-dozen productive men (and whose children, if born, will also be Down's? I say fuck her too.

    --
    Obama likes poor people so much, he wants to make more of them.
  5. Re:Bah! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Yes, good point. We're all surrounded by small amounts of electromagnetic radiation, therefore *any* amount of *any* radiation is just fine! Hey, pass that polar bear liver, eh? I need some more vitamin A.

  6. Re:Bah! by FireFury03 · · Score: 0, Troll

    I agree that the risks associated with ionising radiation are massively overstated by the media and public perception. However, that isn't an excuse for spreading misinformation.

    Wanna know what a CRT really is? A particle accelerator. It's beaming beta radiation ... directly into your eyes.

    This is completely incorrect. Even if that "beta radiation" (high velocity electrons) made it through the glass, they would be stopped by the air within an extremely short distance (unless you make a habit of watching TV in a vacuum?)

    they (like all radiation exposures) cause cancer

    This is _exactly_ the sort of misinformation that causes the idiotic "wifi causes cancer" scares. Your statement is completely wrong: ionising radiation exposure increases the risk of cancer. Nonionising radiation does not pose such a risk.

  7. CDN Forces by Bloggins · · Score: 0, Troll

    Hum, when did the Canadian military get nuclear reactors?