CANADA Ses Pickering: accidents and shutdowns Hydro claims a life-expectancy of 30-40 years for the reactor (at which point the reactors become too radio- ; a The pride of Canada’s nuclear power program _ active to operate). o HMMM... GOOD TRITIUM ... the Pickering Generating Station just east of Ontario Hydro will oppose retubing at Pickering for WHAT 00 You THINK COLWELL? a number of reasons. First, the expense will further cripple the utility which is already a staggering $18 billion in debt (largely because of its unneeded nuclear power program). Secondly, the retubing will result in lengthy shut-downs, disrupting Hydro’s cumbersome Toronto, experienced an accident filled August. In an attempt to alleviate public con- cern Ontario Hydro played down the events. However newly released information indicates Rts May, just how fine the line is between nuclear safety _—_gtid_system. Finally, the re-tubing could deal a SN willy 4 and disaster. death-blow to CANDU’s international reputation for’ a ws Vy : safety and dependability, thus further harming the Y iY : WS already dismal prospects for overseas sales. S {} % S%," By JILL TALBOT On Monday, August 1 at 12:10 p.m., Unit #2 of the Pickering Generating station started sounding alarms. Operators could see dense clouds of steam through cameras in the reactor building, and knew that a major loss-of-coolant-accident (LOCA) was taking place. However, 10 minutes elapsed before power was reduced, because operators suspected problems with a routine refuelling operation. Two emergency pumps were needed to replace heavy water in the reactor, which was leaking 16,000 litres per hour. Heavy water was transferred from other reactors.and added manually to maintain the normal 175 tonne level. Two weeks later, over 13,000 litres per hour were still leaking from the reactor. The release of tonnes of steam and heavy water also shorted out the two refuelling machines — in itself a serious accident. Although Ontario Hydro spokespersons claimed that pressure losses indicated a ‘‘one inch square hole’’, a TV camera inserted into the tube on August 20 revealed a 1.9 metre crack about 1.5 cm wide, along with several smaller cracks. A rupture in the surrounding fuel channel would have had catas- _ trophic results. Worse yet, the camera also revealed that two fuel rods were wedged in the crack. The rods were broken from two fuel bundles during their re- moval on August 12, and were not dislodged from the crack until September 1. Rupture of the rods would result in high levels of radioactive contamination. Ontario Hydro still hopes to have the reactor operating by mid-October. Two unrelated accidents have occurred at Picker- ing. Unit #1 was shut down on the evening of August 5 after one of two moderator heat exchangers de- | veloped a leak, sending several gallons of heavy water (about 120 curies of Tritium) into Lake Ontario. The main danger of radiation release comes through Tritium which contaminates heavy water, used for moderating and cooling CANDU reactors. Tritium is carcinogenic and can cause genetic damage (birth defects) if inhaled or ingested. The other accident occurred on August 7 in Unit - #5, which just began operation this year. During a routine safety test, an operator in training threw the wrong switch. Eight valves were opened putting more heavy water into the heat transport system causing a pressure increase which resulted in an automatic shut-down. Unit #5 went back into operation on Au- gust 9, although it was not producing electricity. The immediate risks from Pickering are real. Hydro boasted that operator reaction to the loss of coolant accident was correct. Yet the mistaken shutdown of Unit #5 showed how easily human error can occur. Human error allowed the loss of coolant accident at Three Mile Island to become a major disaster. No - other nuclear station in North America (besides the Indian Point station in New York) is so close to.such large numbers of people. The accidents at Pickering have prompted the On- tario New Democratic and Liberal Parties to call for a. public inquiry, but the Conservative government and Public interest groups such as Toronto Nuclear Awareness and Energy Probe have condemned nu- clear power in Ontario not only for being unsafe, but also for being environmentally unsound and too ex- pensive. The problem of long-lived radioactive wastes remains unsolved, and Ontario Hydro has a huge 45% surplus of electricity. Although publicly owned, the utility is not publicly controlled. Despite numerous protests Hydro still has an inverted rate structure which offers lower rates to large industrial users while charging more to individual consumers. Disarmament advocates have opposed overseas reactor sales because the Plutonium needed for nu- clear weapons can be refined from reactor wastes. Canada has sold reactors to regimes in India, Taiwan, South Korea, Pakistan and Argentina. In 1974, India exploded a nuclear bomb made with materials from a reactor sold to them by Canada. Li The tasters. Gander protests | Ottawa sanctions GANDER, Nfid. — Along with its outright 60-day ban on flights of the Soviet airline Aeroflot to Montreal’s Mirabel airport, Ottawa is dragging its feet on a renewal contract for Soviet planes to refuel at Gander, en route to Cuba. The Chamber of Commerce here, not- ing that a loss of millions of dollars may be involved, has written a pro- test to Prime Minister Trudeau. N.W.T. council refuses Cruise YELLOWKNIFE, N.W.T. — The Northwest Territories legisla- tive council has formally asked the federal government to reconsider its agreement to allow the testing of Canada. The close vote (9-8 with 1 abstention) was a determined ges- ture by council two weeks before it is to be dissolved for Nov. 21 elec- tions. The vote Sept. 2 followed by one day a vow by the executive branch of council (a kind of cabinet) to co-operate with Ottawa on the tests. Common front to | fight wage curbs TORONTO Seventeen U.S. cruise nuclear missiles in’ Across Canada ” economic grounds,’ said Ontario Federation of Labor President Cliff Pilkey, whose organization in- itiated the meeting. Communist brief on Senate reform TORONTO — Three members of the leadership of the Communist Party of Canada appeared before the committee studying reform of the Senate, in Toronto, Sept. 8, to discuss their party’s brief. The brief had been submitted. earlier. Present from the Communist Party were its leader, William Kashtan, - accompanied by Peter Boychuck and Mel Doig. The brief, which will PHILLIPS w