Canada having nuke plant problems

[ensho]

Ontario Power Generation has notified Canada's federal nuclear regulator about the release of 73,000 litres of demineralized water at the Pickering A nuclear generating station. The leak occurred at 11: 30 p.m. ET on Monday and was caused by a pump seal failure. “The radiological risk to the environment and people’s health is negligible,” Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission said in a statement. The nuclear regulator and Environment Canada are monitoring the situation, the statement said. Andrew Nichols of CBC News reported about the leak on Wednesday afternoon and said he spoke to an Ontario Power Generation spokesperson who told him the risk is minimal but that such leaks are not supposed to occur. The leak comes as the world is watching Japan's unfolding nuclear crisis, as multiple reactors there face possible meltdowns in the wake of Friday's earthquake and tsunami. Pickering A is the first four reactors at the nuclear plant just east
of Toronto. It went into service in 1971 and continued to operate safely until 1997, when it was placed in voluntary lay-up as part of what was then Ontario Hydro's nuclear improvement program.


and

A nuclear power plant 25 miles east of Toronto leaked 19,000 gallons of water into Lake Ontario, Canadian atomic regulators said Wednesday. The incident happened just before midnight Monday at the Pickering facility, but officials didn't make a statement until Wednesday afternoon, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. said. A faulty pump seal was blamed for allowing the leak of demineralized water used to cool the reactors, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission said in a statement. "The radiological risk to the environment and people's health is negligible," the commission said, which would suggest the water had not yet been exposed to the radioactive core. The federal regulator gave no indication why the news wasn't released sooner. The Canadian-built Candu nuclear reactors at Pickering on the shore of Lake Ontario began operating in 1971 and were taken offline for maintenance and upgrades for months in 1997.
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[lonestarnot]

1. Planet going green one way or another. Yeah!

Not so much.

[Motown_Johnny]

5. florescent green doesn't count

[lonestarnot]

6. Well I think this needs a little kicker

:kick:

[madmax]

2. Japan - World Wide Wake Up Call... n/t

[nc4bo]

3. Hello ensho.

No one takes your posts seriously enough. Too many IRL don't take the dangers of nuclear energy seriously enough.

Perhaps more will take notice now that it's, once again, right in our faces.

One day we'll learn.

[BR_Parkway]

4. Has there ever been a report about a leak that didn't include "no health

risks are foreseen"? It's become boilerplate it seems

[SidDithers]

7. OMG! They spilled extra-clean water!...nt

Sid

[darkstar3]

8. +1

[darkstar3]

9. With all the hysteria regarding nuclear power currently on this board,

your title is grossly irresponsible. The plant released distilled water from a closed system that has no chance of actually being a risk to humans anywhere in the world. The only thing this water will do is mildly disturb temperature and salination rates in one of the Great Lakes.

This is exactly the kind of sensationalism that we deride when it comes from the right.

[SidDithers]

10. +1...nt

Sid