In hindsight, the world (including Canada) should probably rethink the idea of having most of the world’s supply of Medical Isotopes to be produced at one location (even it is in Canada).
At the same time, it deeply troubles me that politicians (from all parties?) went ahead and overruled decision to shutdown the Chalk River, Ont., nuclear reactor. You see, records are kept as part of a checks-and-balances reporting system to ensure things are done correctly and as planned. When important nuclear records are not kept well, and these problems were discounted as “paperworks”, these actions worried me.
Now, I hope everyone at Chalk River will be ultra careful in the next while and follow all the carefully established checks and balances system (aka “paperworks”) established to ensure safety.
A friend of mine was part of the software team that developed software for the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station. And years ago, we chatted about the extend and thoughts that went into ensuring the safe operations of Darlington. So I don’t think I can ever view nuclear power plants “paperworks” so lightly (or carelessly?) as these federal politicians.
I hope the politicians that passed the emergency bill took a calculated risk in forcing the reopening of Chalk River. After all, the mistakes of operating Chalk river unsafely will be paid by the health or even lives (in the extreme case) of the workers and safety crew at the plant.
Since I am not a nuclear scientist, I can only hope. But last I checked, none of the major political parties’ leaders are nuclear scientists by training either.
Subscribe to RSS Feed
Subscribe by email
