G&M Article: Canada to reprocess other nations' nuclear waste

Canada to reprocess other nations' nuclear waste

SHAWN MCCARTHY

>From Wednesday's Globe and Mail

September 5, 2007 at 4:41 AM EDT

Canada will eventually get into the business of reprocessing spent nuclear fuel, Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn said yesterday as the government considers an invitation to join a major international effort to promote nuclear technology worldwide.

As he headed to a meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation forum in Australia yesterday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper was expected to face questions on whether Canada will join the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership, a group of major nuclear powers dedicated to spreading nuclear technology into developing countries.

U.S. President George W. Bush - who is leading the GNEP process - has suggested that, as a price of entry, major uranium-producing countries should agree to accept and dispose of nuclear waste from countries to which they sell the uranium for reactor fuel.

Canada is the world's largest uranium producer, followed closely by Australia, whose government has already indicated an interest in joining the nuclear partnership.

"We're very seriously looking at our options but a final decision has not been made on it yet," Mr. Lunn said yesterday. "There are some benefits that we would want to be looking for, but I believe there could be some advantages for Canada to be an official member of the GNEP."

He said the newly formed group is reviewing its own principles. He said that it is not practical to require producing countries to accept nuclear waste from their customers, particularly those that have adequate storage facilities of their own. But he would not comment on whether Canada would sign on if it was required to accept nuclear waste from other countries.

The minister recently announced that the government had approved a plan for long-term storage of nuclear waste, in which the spent fuel would be kept at the reactor site for 30 years, then moved to a centralized storage facility for eventual burial deep underground.

Yesterday, he suggested some of that spent fuel will eventually be reprocessed and used again.

"At this point in time, reprocessing spent nuclear waste from a Candu reactor is not something done now, but there is no question that as the technology evolves, it's something we'll see in the years ahead," he said.

The domestic industry is eager to expand its role and get into the business of processing imported reactor waste and enriching domestically produced uranium, Murray Elston, president of the Canadian Nuclear Association, said yesterday.

He said that as a result of rising raw uranium prices, reprocessed reactor waste and enriched uranium will be "the fuel of choice worldwide." To take advantage of that market, Canada needs to join the GNEP group, which is working out standards for the safe handling and processing of spent fuel.

Mr. Elston said nuclear military powers have been reprocessing and transporting nuclear waste for years, and have proven it can be done safely.

But Norm Rubin, a nuclear industry researcher at Toronto-based Energy Probe, said the reprocessed fuel is far more dangerous than the solid spent fuel rods that are now stored at reactor sites around the world. He noted that a nine-year federal assessment of Canada's nuclear waste disposal options never dealt with the proposed importation of high-level waste.

"When you reprocess it, you are taking one of the most stable forms of nuclear waste - it's still nasty, but at least it is stable - and ... you end up with a corrosive liquid that contains all of the nastiness that you were thinking of disposing of in the first place," he said.

The APEC summit

What is APEC?

Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation is an intergovernmental summit to negotiate voluntary trade agreements among Pacific Rim countries. Since it formed in 1989, the group has grown to include 21 members stretching across the Pacific Ocean from the Americas to Australia and Asia. They account for 48 per cent of world trade.

Who belongs to it?

Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam.

Canada's goal

A senior government official told The Globe and Mail that Canada will push for tougher initiatives on limiting greenhouse-gas emissions. It is unclear how much influence Canada holds on climate-change issues, given its Kyoto record.

Microwave popcorn that can render your lungs useless?

Found this story today, figured I would post it.

From: http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070905/popcorn_070905/20070905?hub=TopStories

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Popcorn manufacturer to stop using chemical

Updated Wed. Sep. 5 2007 1:23 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

The manufacturer of Orville Redenbacher and Act II popcorn plans to remove a flavouring chemical linked to a rare lung ailment.

ConAgra Foods Inc., the largest microwave popcorn maker in the United States, says it will be remove from its products the chemical diacetyl, which helps give microwave popcorn a buttery flavour, over the next year.

A ConAgra spokeswoman says the company decided to remove the flavouring from its popcorn because of the risk the chemical presents to workers who handle large quantities.

Diacetyl has been linked to an ailment called bronchiolitis obliterans, or "popcorn workers lung." It's a life-threatening form of obstructive lung disease whose only cure is a lung transplant.

Numerous studies in recent year have shown links between the disease and diacetyl. One flavouring manufacturer worker has died of the disease. Flavouring manufacturers in the U.S. have paid out more than US$100 million to settle lawsuits by people sick with popcorn workers lung over the past five years.

Last week, another U.S. popcorn manufacturer, Weaver Popcorn Co., said it would replace the butter flavouring ingredient.

This week, Denver doctors said they may have recorded the first case of the ailment in a consumer. The afflicted patient reportedly popped several bags of extra butter flavoured popcorn every day for years.

The patient developed progressively worsening symptoms of coughing and shortness of breath. Tests found his ability to exhale was deteriorating, although his condition seemed to stabilize after he quit making microwave popcorn.

"We cannot be sure that this patient's exposure to butter flavored microwave popcorn from daily heavy preparation has caused his lung disease,'' cautioned Dr. Cecile Rose, the pulmonary specialist treating the patient. "However, we have no other plausible explanation.''

Rose has written to federal agencies to alert them of the case and of the potential public health implications.

The Food and Drug Administration is reportedly evaluating Rose's letter and "carefully considering the safety and regulatory issues it raises.''

The occupational safety arm of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, said it is working on a response to the letter.

The Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association of the U.S. (FEMA) says it

is concerned about the report about Rose's patient. They note that diacetyl has been used as a flavour ingredient for many years and is approved by the FDA.

"Diacetyl is naturally occurring in a wide variety of foods including butter, milk, cheese, fruits, wine and beer and provides a 'buttery' flavor to butter itself and other foods," the group said in a statement Tuesday.

"However, out of an abundance of caution, FEMA recommends that its members who manufacture butter flavors containing diacetyl for use in microwave popcorn consider reducing the diacetyl content of these flavors to the extent possible."

New Decima poll out

New poll out puts Green support at 11% nationally, and 13% in Quebec where the NDP have only 10%.
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Gap narrows between Tories, Liberals: poll

Updated Tue. Apr. 17 2007 11:55 AM ET

Canadian Press

OTTAWA -- A new poll suggests the gap between the Conservatives and Liberals has narrowed to three percentage points, another signal that a spring federal election may be on hold afterall.

The survey by Decima Research, provided exclusively to The Canadian Press, put Tory support at 34 per cent nationally.

That's far short of majority government territory and two points back of where the Conservatives were on election day in January 2006.

The Liberals polled 31 per cent nationally, while the NDP got 15 per cent, the Green party 11, and the Bloc Quebecois, seven.

Political sabre-rattling by the Tory government in recent months had Liberals claiming Prime Minister Stephen Harper was set to engineer his own defeat and force an election.

But Decima CEO Bruce Anderson says volatility in public opinion makes that a very risky proposition for anyone seeking a majority mandate.

The situation is especially intriguing in Quebec, where the Bloc hit a new low of 29 per cent, and the upstart Greens tracked 13 per cent.

The Liberals led the Tories 23-20 in the province, while the NDP trailed with 10 per cent support.

The telephone poll of more than 1,000 respondents, contacted Thursday through Sunday, is considered accurate within plus or minus 3.1 per cent, 19 times in 20.

Another Conservative subsidy for Quebec, another Nova Scotian company closes

Well, Steven Harper has again shown his bias against Atlantic Canada yet again.

He has announced a subsidy of $900 Million for Quebec aerospace companies, which includes Bombardier. Now, I know that aerospace has not always been a money-making business, especially given the closure of so many airlines in the past few years. But was Bombardier in any danger of closing or laying off workers? No. They have other products they make to add to their bottom line, including rail cars.

Now, turn to Trenton, Nova Scotia. Greenbrier is closing its rail car plant that currently employs more than 300 people. The Premier has attempted to keep them here with a few million in subsidies, but it wasn't enough, they still plan to close.

Take note, this is in Peter MacKay's riding.

Consider the budget that has shafted Atlantic Canadians. Wouldn't you think that Steven Harper would like to show that he cares after this. John Stewart pointed out after his interview with John Bolton that he didn't realize the President was only the President of the people who voted for him. Now, apply this to our Prime Minister. He's trying to buy votes in Ontario and Quebec, and keep his Alberta base happy. Since we out here in the Atlantic Provinces are a stalwart support area for him, or are even seeming to break Conservative, there's no point for him to invest effort here, he has nothing to gain in his drive for a majority.

And now Harper is surprised that Newfoundland & Labrador Premier Danny Williams is going after him, taking out ads across the country.

This is the only way that the Federal Government pays attention to us. They are happy to pay us our "pogey" and give us our transfers, but they don't want to deal with us. The Liberals did this too, but to a lesser extent since they have a lot of support here.

We have 32 seats in the entirety of Atlantic Canada, of course due to our population. We have lower representation, which makes sense. But the Government seems to think this is insignificant and not worth their while.

I'm with Danny Williams. The sooner this government is out of office, the better.

Green Party of Nova Scotia Succeeds!

Well, there has been a victory for the GPNS and democracy in Nova Scotia. It's small, but it's a start.

The government had created a election funding law that gave each registered party (there are 4 of them) $1.50/vote, which is perfectly fair because it had no minimum threshold or anything like that. BUT, they had a clause where any registered party that had more than 15% of the vote could take an option to receive $125,000 in a lump sum and $0.90/vote. Now, there is only one party that is less than 15% of the vote, and that's the Greens. It was a blatant attempt to discriminate against a new party.

However, we got the Government to amend the law yesterday, striking down the 15% minimum by claiming it was unconstitutional. We now have access to the second option, giving us a unique opportunity to invest in the party's infrastructure. As well, as Mike Tipping pointed out to me, this also gives us funding to start up door-to-door canvassing, which not only gets our message out, but raises money too.

Pedestrians are worth $387.50 (at least in Halifax)

Okay, this is something that REALLY pisses me off. A 14 year old girl was hit by a car on a cross walk. She was hospitalized, but will most likely recover.

So, what does the man (who was an 84 year old) face for this? Does he face attempted man slaughter, or maybe something small like dangerous operation of a motor vehicle? Hell no. Does he get his license revoked? Not according to the article.

No, he gets a fine for $387.50. He hits someone on a cross walk, and that is it. If he doesn't even have to get re-tested to keep his driver's license it will be criminal.

Much like that girl who was killed in Dartmouth on a cross walk by a car. Another car had stopped to let the young girl cross, then this woman drives around the stopped car, hits the girl and kills her. She doesn't face ANY jail time.

Am I the only person that thinks that this is STUPID?

Then you have intersections where the cross walks are not marked on the pavement, but for those of us who have taken a driving class, we know that a cross walk exists at every street intersection. I almost got hit by a car at the intersection of College and Summer St. (the intersection near the parking lot for the Carleton (Med School) Campus), as they don't stop there because it's not painted on the road.

Personally, I plan on looking into who's jurisdiction this law falls under, and if it's provincial, it's going to make its way into the GPNS policy if I have my way. Before more kids loose their lives at cross walks because drivers are too ignorant of what's going on around them.

Greens Rising in Polls

Two new polls came out today, one from Decima Research and the other from Strategic Council. The Decima poll had the following results:

-Conservatives: 32%
-Liberals: 30%
-NDP: 15%
-Green: 11%
-Bloc: 9%

The Strategic Council Poll:

-Conservatives: 34% (+3%)
-Liberals: 29% (-8%)
-NDP: 14% (unchanged)
-Green: 12% (+5%)
-Bloc: 9% (unchanged)

The Decima poll almost puts the Greens statistically ahead of the Bloc (+/- 3.1%), while the Strategic Council poll does put the Greens statistically ahead (+/- 3.1%).