HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0212.234 1996-1998 ~~tti~~~ - ~~~1 z~
Testimony Before the County Council ~t'lll e~
Regazding Bi1162 and Res. 71-97
May 7, 1997
by Kathy Dorn
There is a place in Quebec Canada, owned and operated by Atomic Energy of Canada
Limited (AECL), a federal crown corporation, called Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories.
It is where 90% of the world's supply of cobalt-60 comes from. It is the most
radioactively contaminated site in Canada - a very nucleazized country. 3,700 acres of
environmental hell where seepage of deadly radioactive isotopes into ground water, the
Ottawa River, Lake Perch and other surface waters, is taking place. Millions of curies of
radioactive isotopes have been released into the air over the years. It is the home of the
NRU reactor, a dangerous, old decrepit reactor which is kept operating to supply Nordion
with cobalt-60 and other isotopes for nucleaz medicine. If AECL breaks the contract
with Nordion, a $450 million lawsuit can be expected.. However, the NRU is scheduled
for shutdown in the year 2000. The Maple X10 reactor may never be built.
You were alerted to this situation weeks ago. Has anyone on the Council looked into the
possibility that there will not be any cobalt-60 in 3 years? You are ready to put the
taxpayers in debt without this very important question being answered? Amazing!
I have here the financial statement from Food Technology Services detailing the years
1994 through 1996. As of Dec. 1996, FTS has lost $6,587,906 since its inception in
1985. A note from the CPA is quoted as saying "The Company is in the development
stage and has incurred losses since inception. Accordingly, there is substantial doubt
about the company's ability to continue as a going concern." FTS is the first and only
food irradiation facility in the country and is going belly up. What gives you the
confidence that you aze not wasting taxpayers money by incurring this debt? Is there any
rational, sensible business person here today who would invest a dime into this project
without some fundamental questions being answered.
It is also so discouraging that you so cavalierly disregard health, safety and
environmental issues. Would you trust a tobacco company representative who told you
that nicotine was not addictive and that cigazettes do not cause cancer? You are equally
foolish to believe any representative of any nuclear industry or nuclear-related
bureaucracy. Many of them will lie as coolly and as arrogantly as any tobacco company
representative lied under oath to Congress. They will minimize, deny, and distort to
create an illusion of safety and you, like sleep walkers, the deluded, walking like strange
dreamers into atrap - we are trying to wake you up.
We aze witnessing an emotional, irrational stampede. A business stampede that is
recklessly trampling the truth. Please defer this vote. You do not know enough to make
a reasoned choice. You are not educated about key elements of the issue. You do not
have the most fundamental financial or economic analysis. We will not forget what takes
place here today.
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Rat. NAY G 7 ~i
-eradiation Free F~ ~d Hawaii
P.O.Box 11350
Hilo, HI. 96721
(808) 966-6846
A Very Brief Look at Where the Radioactive
Isotopes Used in Commercial Irradiation
Facilities, Comes From.
Directly and indirectly irradiation facilities contribute to
the continued proliferation of nuclear power reactors - a
technology which stands as a monument to humans run
amuck. The enormous proportions of the nuclear waste
problem and the extensive and permanent contamination
of soil and water must be realized so that intelligent,
emergency remedial action can take place. The burden
that nuclear contamination represents for future
generations makes the federal deficit look like child's
play. Irradiation contributes to, legitimizes and depends
on the proliferation and expansion of the problem. Let
Sanity Reign!
STOP FOOD IRRADIATION ! ! ! ! !
(The following factual information represents only a superficial
discussion of the problem. It is extremely complex and will cost billions
to isolate nuclear waste in "national sacrifice areas" which will have to
be guarded for many thousands of years. Learn More!)
Irradiation
It Comes From Hell
Where does COBALT-60 come from?
There is a place in Canada called Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories owned and operated
by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, a federal crown corporation. It is the most
radioactively contaminated site in Canada, a very nuclearized country. Chalk River
Nucleaz Labs (CRNL) opened under great secrecy in 1944 as a military operation. There
aze several reactors as well as nucleaz fuel production and reprocessing facilities located
on the 3,700 acres of the site.
- Radioactive wastes have been handled very carelessly there leading to extensive ground
and water contamination. Strontium-90 which lasts several hundred years and mimics
calcium in the food chain, is seeping into Lake Perch. Other radioactive isotopes aze
contaminating the Ottawa River and seeping into other surface and ground waters. Some
radioactive isotopes last hundreds of thousands of years.
-Already millions of curies of radioactive materials have been accidentally released into
the air and blown downwind.
- Hundreds of millions of dollars will be needed to contain the contamination, that is, if it
can be contained.
-There were serious accidents at nucleaz reactors on site in 1952, 1958, in Jan. 1991, and
June 1991.
-An old, outdated nuclear reactor -the NRU - is being kept operational to supply
Nordion with Cobalt-60 and other isotopes. If AECL stops supplying Nordion, they will
face a $450 million suit for breach of contract. So they keep the old, dangerous reactor
going. However, it is to be shut down in the yeaz 2000. AECL supplies 90% of the
world's cobalt-60.
-Anew reactor, the Maple XI O, was designed but never constructed due to design flaws
and budget constraints. Construction has not yet started. If the NRU is shut down in
2000, there may be NO cobalt-60 for commercial use.
Information gathered from:
-Gordon Edwards PhD, "Reactor Accidems at Chalk River: the Human Fallout," Canadian Coalition for
Nuclear Responsibility, 236 Station Snowdoq Montreal, Quebec H3X 3T4 -Canada (ccnr@web.net]
-Nuclear Awareness Project, Box 104 Uxbridge, ON L9P 1M6, Canada. [nucawareQweb.net]
-AECL annual report, 1995-1996.
-David Martin, "Nuclear Sunset; the Economic Costs of the Canadian Nuclear Industry," Nuclear
Awareness Project, Box 104 Uxbridge, ON L9P IM6, Canada.
Where Does Cesium-137 Come From?
The cesium-137 planned for commercial use comes from two of the major military
nucleaz reservations in the US. These aze Hanford WA. and Savannah River SC. There
is not the slightest reason to exaggerate the horrific extent of the contamination at these
two sites. Here is a very brief sampling of some of the problems - a tip of the iceberg to
say the least. In addition to extensive contamination of soil and water the following
potential disasters compete for limited funds:
-177 huge underground tanks of high-level nuclear waste, some of which have leaked and
are building up heat and flammable gases. One contractor estimated that the job of
dealing with these tanks could alone cost S50 billion.
-At least a dozen tons of dangerous plutonium, some of it in the soil or otherwise
unsecured;
-Five gigantic and profoundly contaminated buildings where plutonium was extracted
from irradiated fuel;
-2,100 tons of irradiated fuel, in basins that in an earthquake could become radioactive
dustbins;
-The Dept. of Energy (DOE) estimates that throughout the 1,450 squaze-kilometer site,
billions of cubic meters of soil, groundwater, and surface water aze contaminated.
-The DOE has been storing 2,100 tons of spent nucleaz fuel in water-filled basins neaz
the Columbia River. A strong earthquake could release up to 9,000 cubic meters of
contaminated water into the river allowing radiation levels in the area to soar to lethal
levels and dispersing fine radioactive particles into the air. $700 million has been
appropriated to deal with this disaster-in-waiting.
-There aze 9 reactor blocks at Hanford. Each reactor block is an enormous, highly
radioactive pair of slabs weighing 15,000 tons. Just to transport them requires the use of
a $40 million "crawling transporter." The cost of moving them as currently mandated by
law, will be another $500 million.
-Hanford and other sites in the US have already been designated as "National Sacrifice
Areas" by the DOE.
-Multiply the above by two to include the radioactive contamination problems at
Savannah River SC. The story only gets worse.
Glenn Zorpette, "Hanford's Nuclear Wasteland," Scientific American, May 1996.
Robett Alvarez and Arjun Makhijani, "E~idden Legacy of the Arms Race -Radioactive Waste," Technology
Review, Aug./Sept. 1988