Monthly Archives: April 2015

Chernobyl: 29 years

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Today, April 26, 2015, marks the 29th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
A sober occasion for those of us who pay attention to such things, who know that serious nuclear accidents (far too understated a term, really) are occurring somewhere in the world about every 10 years.

(Accidents compilation list here; important to note that the Chalk River accidents are not even included in that accident compilation, which is not 100% complete!)

There is such a great deal one could say – but I’m just going to provide a list of items I’ve run across recently about the Chernobyl disaster (or been reminded of, as the anniversary approached), and suggest that you peruse/pursue the links if you feel so inclined.

Chornobyl: posting collection from Ukraine source

Chernobyl: A human perspective (several links here, all on the Fairewinds site)

Chernobyl, 29 years on: A race against time

Chernobyl to Fukushima – a variety of items, including food security post-accident

Containing Chernobyl’s Deadly Legacy As the 29th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster approaches, work continues to safely confine radioactive waste remaining at the site with the construction of the largest moveable structure ever created on land

Forest fires threaten new fallout from Chernobyl

Haunting short YouTube of footage captured by a drone

Health Effects of Chernobyl 25 years after the reactor catastrophe (April 2011)

Interview with Chernobyl Cleanup Survivor, Natalia Manzurova

Tragic Truth about Chernobyl

Voices from Chernobyl

Voices of Chernobyl author wins 2015 Nobel Prize for Literature

Finally, it’s important to remember/be aware that there remains a 30-kilometre exclusion zone surrounding the site. To put things in perspective, the city of Toronto is located within 30 kilometres of a major nuclear generating station (the Pickering NGS).

Direction sign to Nukes

Direction sign to Nukes

Parting thought: “Chernobyl is a word we would all like to erase from our memory. But more than seven million of our fellow human beings do not have the luxury of forgetting. They are still suffering, every day, as a result of what happened…The exact number of victims can never be known.” – former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan

p.s. if you are open to having your heart break, & almost certainly shed some tears, I highly recommend the documentary Chernobyl Heart, about the children of Chernobyl & area, whose hearts are not merely emotionally scarred, but literally physically damaged (to this day children are being born with damaged hearts). Tears, as I say, highly likely (just as true for the short YouTube ‘Eternal Tears.’)

Chernobyl Heart

Eternal Tears (12 minute YouTube)

Fallout is forever…

Bruce Hearing: Relevant links

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Last week (April 13-16), a Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) hearing took place in Kincardine, Ontario, at which Bruce Power was trying to make its case for a new 5-year license.
& how is this relevant for Durham Region, you ask? CNSC will later this year conduct a hearing on the request of the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station (DNGS) to obtain a 13-year license. Some patterns seem likely to recur.

I was unable to take in the whole hearing (one is able to watch CNSC hearings live via Webcast), but did take a good look at the agenda, at who-all was taking part, & watched some key presentations.

A few things stood out for me, bearing in mind that I’m a veteran of CNSC hearings by now, having watched &/or taken part in a significant number of them over the past 9 years.

One thing that quickly became clear is that Bruce Power is quite liberal in providing financial resources/assistance to a rather large number of organizations in the area. One wonders how objective all these organizations are in giving assessments of the “hand” that is “feeding” them, as it were, when it comes time to present at the hearing.

A second notable circumstance: there was a long parade of corporations in attendance, corporations that stand to take in considerable revenues from the continued operations of the largest nuclear plant in the world (so it is said; who knew?), making their cases for the CNSC to license Bruce Nuclear to go on operating.

Really??

These quotations ran through my mind during the hearing:

  • “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.” (Upton Sinclair)
  • “It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong.” (Thomas Sowell)
  • “It’s not really fair to ask for an objective opinion from anyone who has a vested interest in what they’re selling.” (Alan Cassels, pharmaceutical policy researcher, in an article in August 2014 Common Ground magazine)

& finally,

Reflecting on the most important lesson of Fukushima being that, before the accident, “There was an implicit assumption that such a severe accident could not happen and thus insufficient attention was paid to such an accident by authorities.” (So said Toshimitsu Homma of the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, at an international conference on Emergency Management held in Ottawa in April 2013.)

** More quotes about nuclear emergency planning

+ a significant one on the value of big biennial emergency exercises, here.

Alright. Moving along.

While watching parts of the hearing, a few key information links came to mind:

(You can listen to an interview on this topic here.)

More Links:

 

I cannot resist concluding with one final quotation:

“There has not existed the slightest shred of meaningful evidence that the entire intervention process in nuclear energy is anything more than the most callous of charades and frauds.” – Dr. John Gofman, M.D., Ph.D.  in “Irrevy” – An Irreverent, Illustrated View of Nuclear Power <pg 125>