To the Editor,
There are sci-fi stories based on a nuclear priesthood to alert future generations to the dangers of nuclear-waste storage areas. We’ve gone beyond that now with the Japan disaster.
Several nuclear engineers have been exposed to lethal doses of radiation trying to shut down Fukushima. Some work there had to be done manually and made exposure necessary.
We have to ask how long before there are no people left with the expertise to close a nuclear power plant.
The Germans have begun a process of evaluating each of their six plants, choosing the most vulnerable one, and closing it while there is still the expertise and capital available.
They could be nuclear-free in three years.
We would be wise to do the same, starting with the Chalk River facility just upstream from Ottawa. That 40-year-old plant has been plagued with accidents since it opened. Two occured since the head of our Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Linda Keen, was fired by the Stephen Harper government for refusing to allow the plant to operate without a back-up pump.
Apparently our current NRC head is disregarding that regulation.
While we’re at it, we should get Statistics Canada to provide an estimate of how many deaths are caused by use of radiation to diagnose cancer.
Jim Erkiletian
Nanaimo