Canuck Wisdom

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-Knowitall A&P type-

Pharm Girl

Perhaps Canada's current minister in charge of nuclear heavy-water leaks, production shutdowns and radioactive medical fallout isn't as rabidly excitable as the one who presided over the last idling of the ailing Chalk River power plant.

Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt deploys her natural Cape Breton serenity when confronting the indefinite shutdown of the world's most important isotope-production plant, despite the imminent spectre of cancer patients racked up and backed up waiting for increasingly scarce diagnostic imaging material.

When confronted by predictions of medical mayhem from her opponents in the House of Commons, Raitt's words translate roughly into: "Crisis? What crisis?" as she points to her "five-point plan" for handling this sort of isotope supply interruption.

This grand plan is actually a one-page ministerial statement that, among other modest moves, pledges to "ensure that Canada plays a leadership role in the planned discussions" in Paris over the security of isotope supply.

She almost makes it sound as if other sources of isotopes or medical alternatives to Chalk River are an eBay order away and, to be fair, whispers say she will announce a long-term isotope supply contract on Thursday.

Still, it's all quite the contrast to the hyperkinetic Gary Lunn she replaced, who fired Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission chairwoman Linda Keen in an early 2008 huff for refusing to kick-start the plant on his command because he was convinced the continued shutdown could spill blood on his political hands.

He whipped Parliament into a frenzy just 17 months ago and secured unanimous all-party approval to over-ride Keen's safety concerns in the public's interest and resume plant operations.

It wasn't just Lunn sounding the alarm.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper cautioned in 2007 that this particular reactor's shutdown would "jeopardize the health and safety and lives of tens of thousands of Canadians," yet he has yet to respond to the current crisis in the Commons.

Former health minister Tony Clement warned that "every day counts in this situation. Two or three days works out to something like 210,000 procedures worldwide."

Yet the current health minister spent Tuesday banning flavoured tobacco products and discussing Gov.-Gen. Michaëlle Jean's symbolic dining on a raw seal heart.

This oddly muted response confuses Keen, who returned to Parliament Hill for media interviews on Tuesday for the first time since her firing.

She rates this shutdown as much, much worse than the safety-compliance concerns she raised over a pair of disconnected pumps.

With new spills being noted regularly and reluctantly released by the plant's Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. owners, Chalk River has become the most notorious leaky ship in Canada's nuclear power fleet.

That's why she's gob-smacked by missing signs of urgency in coping with a crisis the Canadian Medical Association predicts will soon impact 30,000 patients per week in Canada, with another 400,000 patients in the United States cut off from precious isotopes.

As someone fired for being the catalyst of a medical crisis in 2007, only to witness an almost nonchalant government response to a far more dire situation, it brings a wry smile to her face. "The irony is complete."

It's not only the government shrugging off this ugly scenario. Despite experts calling it a "catastrophe in the making," the Chalk River shutdown has rated just three questions in the House of Commons this week.

The nuclear crisis may be so overwhelmed by the endless stream of economic traumas and jobless epidemics that opposition MPs just can't squeeze it into the 50-minute slamming and slagging of the government during question period.

But if this plant shutdown goes long-term or even permanent, there's no avoiding a toxic spillover into the hospitals and medical clinics of Canada and the world.

If the Conservative blueprint for coping with a sick nuclear plant that has immense global medical significance is a single sheet of paper, the politics of this issue will go radioactive and the public reaction will go nuclear even faster than the economic meltdown.

Everything's peachy down at Chalk River

and this "sexy" isotope shortage..........sa ys Raitt.

3-month Chalk River reactor repair estimate called 'optimistic'

(Emotional Raitt apologizes for 'sexy' isotopes comment)

__________________

.....The Time has Come to 'Walk the Talk'.....~

......A message for ALL from the Deer Tribe...~

It is a great journey —
but you must do the walking
and have the willingness to change
and make the leap into
the next level of human evolution.

Become an inquisitive free thinking
individual that takes
responsibility for your life
and the spiritual accountability to live life to the fullest.

Fuck the Monkeys

Pharm Girl

phone tapping, lost documents, aids taking the fall and so on and so on....



OTTAWA -- Reaction to Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt's private comment that the shortage of radioactive isotopes used in cancer tests is a "sexy" issue from which she could benefit politically:

"How could she?"

-- Geraldine Owen, whose daughter-in-law is having breast-cancer treatment.

"I'm trying to be fair, but most people realize the trauma that people go through when they have cancer and are sensitive to it."

-- Cancer survivor Norma Fisher.

"This minister has been working around the clock to make sure we get a greater supply of isotopes and make sure we have alternative options for our health care patients in this country. That is what the minister is doing. That is what this government is doing, not playing cheap politics."

-- Prime Minister Stephen Harper responding to opposition criticism.

"The cheapest politics there is is to call a crisis a career opportunity."

-- Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff.

"A lot of us in this House are surprised and shocked that there hasn't at least been an apology. Not only is she losing secret documents, but she expected a career bounce as a result of a medical crisis."

-- NDP Leader Jack Layton.

"This minister is incompetent and the prime minister's judgment is in question... Does he agree that the notion of cancer is a sexy issue on which to build your political career?"

-- Liberal MP David McGuinty

__________________

.....The Time has Come to 'Walk the Talk'.....~

......A message for ALL from the Deer Tribe...~

It is a great journey —
but you must do the walking
and have the willingness to change
and make the leap into
the next level of human evolution.

Become an inquisitive free thinking
individual that takes
responsibility for your life
and the spiritual accountability to live life to the fullest.

Fuck the Monkeys

crookedhatinator45

whoa.

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Sk3tchyD4ZO no doubt. the first place i had these was at Space Camp.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Former President Hayes stfu with this pretend bullshit cutesy "lol @ bears" you don't know what its like to like in CONSTANT threat of bear attack.you don't even FUCKING KNOW.

Quote:

Originally Posted by v3d4 note to self: veda, you decided not to look at this thread anymore.

♫ılıll|̲̅̅●̲̅̅|̲̅̅=̲ ̅̅|̲̅̅●̲̅̅|llılı ♫

Pharm Girl

For those who depend on the Ottawa river, Outaouais river, y'all need to know this!

MATTAWA, Ont. -- Ministry of Environment officers are at the scene of train derailment 15 kilometres east of Mattawa that has spilled more than 20,000 litres of diesel fuel into the Ottawa River.

The derailment happened on an Ottawa Valley Railway line at 3:10 a.m. where 180 metre stretch of track has washed out.

Two members of the crew suffered minor injuries.

Two train engines are on their side and are spilling diesel fuel into the Ottawa River.

Of the 29 cars, six center-beam flat cars have derailed. One car is in the river.

"We have deployed three investigators to the site," said Julie Leroux, a spokeswoman with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.

"We are monitoring the situation." (yeah right)

The OVR is a short-line railroad with 550 kilometres of track between Coniston and Smiths Falls with CP interchanges at Sudbury and Smith Falls.

Canadian Pacific owns the rail line, and RailAmerica operates the OVR.

The Nugget reported in April that CP and RailAmerica have been in a dispute over which multi-national corporation would pay for rail maintenance and much-needed upgrades to the tracks from Smith Falls to North Bay.

The OVR blamed the sluggish economy for its recent layoff of 30 employees. (so that's their excuse)

The OVR said in a news release the track speed at the washout is 64 kilometres per hour, and the railway is working with investigators to determine the cause.

“OVR is co-ordinating closely with all relevant authorities on the clean up and environmental mitigation,” the release says.

The Environment Ministry said the OVR has a cleanup contractor to review the conditions of the site and determine any contamination.

The investigation is in its early stages and it’s too early to determine if charges might be laid, said ministry spokeswoman Kate Jordan.

In the meantime, the North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit has also been notified and is assessing any health risks.

__________________

.....The Time has Come to 'Walk the Talk'.....~

......A message for ALL from the Deer Tribe...~

It is a great journey —
but you must do the walking
and have the willingness to change
and make the leap into
the next level of human evolution.

Become an inquisitive free thinking
individual that takes
responsibility for your life
and the spiritual accountability to live life to the fullest.

Fuck the Monkeys

Pharm Girl

Chalk River continues to leach into the Ottawa River, 20,000 litres of fuel spilt and they now say to a small portion of the Outaouais residents to boil the water for 1 minute..........


Boil water advisory issued for parts of Aylmer
Updated: Sat Jun. 13 2009 15:17:24

ctvottawa.ca

The City of Gatineau issued a preventive boil water advisory Saturday for a large portion of Aylmer along the Ottawa River.

The affected area is bordered by Chemin Lation to the west, Rue Principale, Chemin d'Eardley, Rue Denise-Friend, and Rue Washington to the north, Chemin Rivermead to the east, and the Ottawa River to the south.

Water should be boiled for one minute before consumption.

Gatineau residents can find more information by calling 311.

__________________

.....The Time has Come to 'Walk the Talk'.....~

......A message for ALL from the Deer Tribe...~

It is a great journey —
but you must do the walking
and have the willingness to change
and make the leap into
the next level of human evolution.

Become an inquisitive free thinking
individual that takes
responsibility for your life
and the spiritual accountability to live life to the fullest.

Fuck the Monkeys

al-Mu'akhkhir

*gasp* could it be that politicians have... PERSONAL AGENDAS?

In any case I don't see the big deal here. Obviously the plant has been closed because it is a stinking shit pile that is beginning to fail/display problems. Thus, for the safety of the general public it is being closed. I haven't been following this and can't really read pharm girl's posts.

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Pharm Girl

they are not shutting it down.......the plan is to patch the problem.

As we all start to glow in the dark


http://www.liberal.ca/en/newsroom/me...k-to-canadians

__________________

.....The Time has Come to 'Walk the Talk'.....~

......A message for ALL from the Deer Tribe...~

It is a great journey —
but you must do the walking
and have the willingness to change
and make the leap into
the next level of human evolution.

Become an inquisitive free thinking
individual that takes
responsibility for your life
and the spiritual accountability to live life to the fullest.

Fuck the Monkeys

al-Mu'akhkhir

so what is the issue here then? I haven't really heard anything about this on the news this month... halp me! (ps. your doubly-spaced posts are depressing... )

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Pharm Girl

Stop Dumping Radioactive Water in the Ottawa River

Ottawa – Sierra Club Canada is calling for the Canadian Nuclear and Safety Commission (CNSC) to end the dumping of radioactive water into the Ottawa River, and the drinking water of millions of residents downstream from Chalk River. A recent high reading for tritium in water from the Ottawa River is a cause for concern. Recently-announced plans by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) to deliberately dump radioactive water have also increased concerns about public safety.

“Radioactive water is a threat to our health and the environment, and there is no safe level of exposure. It is easily incorporated into our DNA, and can cause birth defects and cancer. We need better drinking water standards, and we need a public investigation to see what is going on at Chalk River,” says Mike Buckthought of Sierra Club Canada.

A recent reading of 17 becquerels per litre for tritium on January 5, 2009 is a real cause for concern. It exceeds the California limit of 15 becquerels per litre, although it is less than the dangerously high 7,000 becquerels per litre level of radioactivity currently permitted in drinking water in Ontario. The high reading points to the possibility that some radioactive water was spilled into the Ottawa River in early January.

There are routine releases of radioactive water from Chalk River, and the public is not informed about the dangers.


There also has to be more timely information about nuclear accidents. “The public has the right to know about releases of radioactive water into the Ottawa River and our drinking water supply. After the December 5 incidents at Chalk River, it took weeks before the public was notified. The cities of Ottawa, Petawawa and Pembroke were not notified either,” says Buckthought.

Levels of tritium found in Ottawa’s drinking water reached as high as 30 becquerels per litre in December 2007 – following the restart of AECL’s NRU reactor. This was twice the limit in California, where the standard calls for less than 15 becquerels per litre of tritium, and approximately thirty times the natural background level for tritium.

In 2007, the federal government ignored advice to shut down the reactor, and forced the restart of the reactor with special legislation. A report on the CNSC web site is blacked out, leading to questions – if there was a release of radioactive water into the Ottawa River, why was the public not informed?

Sierra Club of Canada News Release

__________________

.....The Time has Come to 'Walk the Talk'.....~

......A message for ALL from the Deer Tribe...~

It is a great journey —
but you must do the walking
and have the willingness to change
and make the leap into
the next level of human evolution.

Become an inquisitive free thinking
individual that takes
responsibility for your life
and the spiritual accountability to live life to the fullest.

Fuck the Monkeys

kamikazi89

Kayak Fishing Events - 2nd annual "Casting for clean water" kayak fishing tournament

__________________
katie west is the best

Pharm Girl

westboro beach........catch 'n release for sure!

__________________

.....The Time has Come to 'Walk the Talk'.....~

......A message for ALL from the Deer Tribe...~

It is a great journey —
but you must do the walking
and have the willingness to change
and make the leap into
the next level of human evolution.

Become an inquisitive free thinking
individual that takes
responsibility for your life
and the spiritual accountability to live life to the fullest.

Fuck the Monkeys

kamikazi89

definitely not safe for consumption

__________________
katie west is the best

Pharm Girl

or swimming!!!!!!!!

__________________

.....The Time has Come to 'Walk the Talk'.....~

......A message for ALL from the Deer Tribe...~

It is a great journey —
but you must do the walking
and have the willingness to change
and make the leap into
the next level of human evolution.

Become an inquisitive free thinking
individual that takes
responsibility for your life
and the spiritual accountability to live life to the fullest.

Fuck the Monkeys

kamikazi89

you would need a suit, head to toe

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katie west is the best