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Canadian Minister: Nuclear to Play Role in Alberta Oil Sands

By Eric McErlain
From The Calgary Sun:
Nuclear power in the oilpatch is just a matter of time, according to Canada's Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn.

Speaking to Sun Media from Victoria yesterday, Lunn said he's very keen to see a new partnership between Crown corporation Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) and a private Alberta company to build a Candu-reactor to power oilsands extraction.

"It's not a question of if, it's a question of when in my mind," said Lunn. "I think nuclear can play a very significant role in the oilsands. I'm very, very keen."

Having toured nuclear plants such as Bruce Power's station on the shore of Lake Huron, Lunn said he believes nuclear power can help replace natural gas and other fossil fuels currently being burned to help extract bitumen from the oilsands.

"On this specific file, I've had discussions this week," said Lunn, declining to give more detail. "It's absolutely emission free. It's CO2 free."
As we saw in November, this idea seems to be getting bipartisan support inside Canada.

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Comments

David Wozney said…
"'On this specific file, I've had discussions this week,' said Lunn, declining to give more detail. 'It's absolutely emission free. It's CO2 free.'"

Nuclear plants emit radioactive tritium. The claim has been made that tritium has a half-life of 12.3 years. Yet more than thirty years after most of Hanford's nuclear reactors were shut down, tritium concentrations were measured in groundwater to be as high as 8 million picocuries per liter (pCi/L). The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standard for tritium is set at a maximum of 20,000 picocuries per liter for drinking water.
December 23, 2006 at 10:06 PM
Stewart Peterson said…
>>The claim has been made that tritium has a half-life of 12.3 years.

You're going to tell us that half-lives magically change, or that there's some vast conspiracy to lie about half-lives?
1. Do you know what a picocurie is?
2. What groundwater are you talking about (i.e., why quote the standard for drinking water in a discussion of non-drinking-water)?
3. You have given us the highest number you could find; what about the spectrum of results?
4. Are you aware that Hanford's reactors were not nuclear power plants?
5. Are you aware that the tritium is in the form of tritiated water, which is 60 times less radioactive than orange juice?
6. What does this all have to do with half-life, since you didn't tell us when your measurement was made or any other measurements of the same tritiated water and when they were made?

>>Every individual has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of New Testament Christian law.

I see. So you probably would be open to Jan Peczkis' argument about half-life.
December 24, 2006 at 4:15 PM
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