What would nuclear power look like for the Prairies?
There are a lot of options in energy for Canada — hydro, wind, solar, biomass, natural gas, geothermal … the list goes on.
As we work to decarbonize our electricity sources, there is growing interest in nuclear power.
Nuclear power has a long history in Canada, with the first plant, the Nuclear Power Demonstration Reactor in Rolphton, Ont., going online in the early 1960s.
Today, larger nuclear generating stations in Ontario and New Brunswick supply about 15 per cent of Canada’s electricity.
Canada’s nuclear power plants use nuclear fission. Atoms from a uranium fuel are split apart, releasing energy in the form of heat and radiation. The heat is used to create steam from water. The steam then spins a turbine, creating electricity.
Spent fuel — radioactive waste — must be stored securely for thousands of years. |Read more https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/what-would-nuclear-power-look-like-for-the-prairies-1.6824632|
(Note from Steve) Herein lies my problem with this technology. The radioactive waste is dangerous. Canadian and U.S. authorities have both cut back radiation reporting after detecting only minuscule increases following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear crisis in 2011, despite ongoing clean-up efforts in Japan.
An article on the CBC website says, https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/canada-and-u-s-cut-back-radiation-reporting-1.1114828 “Numerous radioactive particles have been detected in milk, water and air tests nationwide since the magnitude-9.0 earthquake and tsunami struck the power plant on March 11, but agency officials said Friday the levels were so minuscule they were not harmful to public health.”
Apparently they found traces of Cesium 134 and Cesium 137 — too small to worry about.
‘Cept it bio-accumulates in the soft tissues of your body, and its stored. If you were exposed to it often enough, it can cause cancer)
#nuclear #radiation #cancer #RadioactiveWaste #mistake #cdnpoli
