I’d assume that “geologically stable” was one of the requirements when they first made a list of potential locations.
Fortunately, all of the heavy-water CANDU reactors currently in commercial service in Ontario are fueled by unenriched uranium, so the worst possible outcome shouldn’t result in much more contamination being released into the environment than we would see with a natural uranium deposit of comparable size nearby. Which isn’t nothing, but the result would be a smallish statistical increase in cancers, not people dropping dead from Acute Radiation Syndrome. Many industrial sites do more damage and are less scrutinized, but we get all weird about radiation the moment the word “nuclear” comes up, and have a hard time putting the risks in perspective.
A couple of issues with that. For one thing, the uranium coming out of the CANDU reactors has been purified, unlike uranium ore which is mixed in with huge amounts of stone and other materials and it’s natural state.
Also, as I understand it the reactors convert about 1% of the uranium into plutonium, which is much more toxic and emits more radiation.
So while there may not be as great a danger as some people fear, there is definitely more than an equivalent amount of natural uranium.
I’d assume that “geologically stable” was one of the requirements when they first made a list of potential locations.
Fortunately, all of the heavy-water CANDU reactors currently in commercial service in Ontario are fueled by unenriched uranium, so the worst possible outcome shouldn’t result in much more contamination being released into the environment than we would see with a natural uranium deposit of comparable size nearby. Which isn’t nothing, but the result would be a smallish statistical increase in cancers, not people dropping dead from Acute Radiation Syndrome. Many industrial sites do more damage and are less scrutinized, but we get all weird about radiation the moment the word “nuclear” comes up, and have a hard time putting the risks in perspective.
A couple of issues with that. For one thing, the uranium coming out of the CANDU reactors has been purified, unlike uranium ore which is mixed in with huge amounts of stone and other materials and it’s natural state.
Also, as I understand it the reactors convert about 1% of the uranium into plutonium, which is much more toxic and emits more radiation.
So while there may not be as great a danger as some people fear, there is definitely more than an equivalent amount of natural uranium.