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page 34 - March 9s 1977 - North Shore News

By ‘Klaus Peter Hauke

Our. Candian nuclear en-
ergy record may well be the
saddest streak in our history.
Hardly ever has there been
such a concerted effort in the
biindfolding of the public and
the flagrant misuse of its
money.

In 1966 a CANDU is sold to
India.. The cost to the
Canadian taxpayer is an $85
million ‘‘loan’’ to India. On
May 18, 1974 India explodes
its first nuclear ‘‘device’’

made from CANDU waste

materials.

In 1976 another CANDU is

sold to another supposedly
stable country, South Korea,

with a loan of $300 million

put up by

Canadian tax-
payers. oe

In. 1976 a military coup
toppled and the government
in Argentina. Our federal
government immediately de-
willingness to
recognize the newcomers if
they would only purchase
one CANDU at the then
estimated loss of $160 million
to Canadian taxpayers.

in November 1976 the
Canadian Auditor General
revealed that there are vast.

blanks in the accounting of

the Atomic Energy Commis-
sion. Apart from: the obvious
and outright losses, tens of
millions were - unaccounted
for. We now know that these
millions were paid to encour-
age foreign governments to

enter into the deals. It was an |
offer they couldn’t refuse.

LIVE DANGEROUSLY

Until that day our Prime
Minister Trudeau had dis-
missed any concern about
the program with the affir-
mation that today we just

_ have to live dangerously, and

that the third world countries
desperately need and want
our Canadian reactor. To this
day he won’t tell us just
where the money went..

=>

. Weli, lost are the millions,
and lost are the last vestiges
of trust in our government.
Gained is the added threat of
further

nuclear weapons.
Fred C. Ikle, Director of the
U.S. Arms Control and

Disarmament Agency, said it

_ clearly. The time has come

when the so-called ‘‘peaceful
nuclear technology provides
not only the means, but the
cover, for new weapons
programs.”’

| But that isn’t all.
‘CANDU reactor

The
produces

twice as much plutonium as

‘its American . counterpart.
This plutonium, with a

_ half-life of 24,000 years, is a

radiological poison so toxic
that one pound could induce
jung cancer in everyone in
the world. And it is the stuff
atomic bombs are made of.
The four nuclear plants at

- Pickering produce hundreds

of pounds a year, and 11

. pounds are enough to make.a

Hiroshima-sized bomb. At
least 100,000 persons know
how to make an atomic
bomb. .

‘Wanted To Rent

The: government is confi-
dently looking ahead into a

bright future of increased

CANDU * ‘sales. ”

HAS B. c. ORDERED YET?

Something has happened .

in the dark chambers of Jack
Davis, B.C. Energy Minister,
and Robert Bonner, B.C.
Hydro Chairman. Contrary to
earlier reports, they are
suddenly. now preachin
nuclear energy for British
Columbia. Has pressure
been brought to bear on
them? Has the sale been
completed already, in the
fashion of all the others?

While Bonner insists on a
fictitious annual growth rate
of energy demand of about
nine per cent, in fact Canada
had consumed Iess energy in
1975 than in 1974. This trend

way in which B.C. Hydro can
now produce any significant -

growth rate is through more
quantity-incentives on
energy consumption. This
would, in turn, necessitate
more energy production. Can
we afford to carry on this
idiotic game? —

Any of the utilities’ meth-
ods of extracting energy are
based on the irreversible
destruction of our own
environmental life-support
system, and on the consum-
ption of finite resources.

They tell. us now that
nuclear energy is safe, clean,
and economical.

NO INSURANCE

Let us see just how safe it
is. Consider. that no insur-

“ance company wants to cover -

WANTED CHILDREN’S used

a nuclear reactor, and that.
your own insurance policies.

completely exclude damage
caused by. radiation.

‘Ontario Hydro engineers

who assessed the CANDU

system for

Hydro _ said
‘*Canada’s

approach to

“nuclear power has. been less

orderly and taken larger risks
than in the U.S. program.’”’
In 1974, the AECL tried to
keep under wraps the leak of
two tons of heavy water

worth millions of dollars from -

the Pickering plant (said to
be the ‘‘safest’’ in the
world). But the leak was

_.“‘leaked’’ to the press.

In a press conference, it
was admitted that ‘“‘many
worse things have happened
in Pickering’s short history...

massive water. spills, valve .
system failures and contin-
_ uous fueling problems. Per-

haps the most _ potentially
hazardous problem, which
few people are aware of, is
the cracking of the zirconium
sheaths containing live uran-
ium fuel.

These cracks. have occur-

red in over a hundred fuel
A burst fuel sheath”
_allows the release of highly

rods.

radioactive fission material
into the outside” environ-
ment, according. to the

radiation protection bureau.

Disease and death from

_ tadiation are on a rapid
increase within. large areas

surrounding | nuclear plants.
In view of a U.S. plan that
Canada should, in the future,
build a *‘belt’’ ‘of at least 150

reactors to supply the U.S.,.
the ‘‘permissible’’ doses of

radiation for Canadians has
been set at 100 ‘times: the

‘permissibie’ * level for U.S.

citizens. Our children will get,
the plutonium to deal with
for the next 100,000 years—
or as long as they are around.

Clean energy?
INCALCULABLE COST
Is it economical?

- Suppose we don’t consider

-human health and lives an.

economic factor, or dour
income tax money. Anyone
will agree with Dr. T. Odum

_ that ‘‘nuclear energy is now

mainly subsidized by fossil
fuels, and barely yields net.
energy. At some point the
great gaunt towers of nuclear

installations will stand empty

in the wind.’’

From - its inception, 4.
nuclear plant takes eighteen
years to. produce the first
calorie of net energy. But
that time it may just about
have exhausted its ‘‘produc-
tive’’ capacity. This is the
cause of an energy crisis, not
the solution. .

More than 60 per cent of
U.S. reactor construction has
been closed down now. The

- cost of dismantling obsolete:
nuclear power plants has not

yet been calculated. We may
of course simply -abandon

them—to leave radioactive ©

deserts haunting the land-
scapes of our children.

The future will include also
the cost of ‘‘managing’’ and
guarding the long-lived,

high-level wastes; and the

extra safety. measures de-.
manded by an angry public

will cost billions. The final
abolition of any civil rights

will be

for free. AEC

Director, F.. Pittma

‘DR. H.C. Urey,

of survival.

that ‘‘none of the su ugpeste ed _
long term solutions for waste
disposal of nuclear plants. are
technically or economically
feasible today.”’

COERCION OF PUBLIC

Why do we continue this
suicidal insanity?. We -can

-only guess that it is for the

purposes of ultimate central-
istic control and coercion of
the public and the covert
production of infinite
amounts of nuclear. weapons.

And then there are those
‘*experts’’ who, according to
_Nobel-
laureate and former nuclear
physicist, ‘‘have spent a |
substantial fraction.of their

productive lives trying to.

make power by this method.
If we don’t build these plants
now, their efforts will have
been wasted. This ieads to a
prejudice on the part of all
such people—so that -it is
very difficult to trust them.’’

Although many have quit,
many of them could: not do
any other work, and they

_ have mortgages to pay.

The burden of responsi- ©
bility is, ultimately, left to
us. If everyone who is
concerned. will take some .
reasonable action we should
be able to stop the nuclear _
avalanche. That may well be

our only choice for a chance

1 As R: Dubos ©
observed, ‘‘a society that.
blindly accepts the decisions
of experts is a sick society on
its way to death.”’

(Mr. Hauke is a member of
the Canadian Coalition For

Nuclear Re sponsibility]

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‘&

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Hotel condominium ste. for sale,
full price $42,500. terms 30 yrs.
at 9%%.
only,

phone Mr. Richards at

689-7266 or 987-1233

: Wanted

Interested parties”

toys, clothing & baby equipment
in good condition for cash.
988-2664, 980-3579.

WANTED 9%’ self contained
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DORIS ORR’S. Donate would
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988-5643.

WANTED BABY _bassinett,
smali mesh playpen, carbed,
buggy, not vinyl; umbrella

stroller, all must be good cond. .
926-2479.
| WANTED CHILDS play fridge &

stove, good cond. Small girls size
7 figure skates. 926-3191.
WANTED WOODEN playpen &
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WANTED, SOLID older ‘style
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black curtains 8’ long. 921-9834.
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