Weblog Categories Main Books (3) Bowling (5) Computing Devices (1) Politics (26) Religion (7) Science (2) Stained Glass (1) Sudoku (60) Television (2) Toronto (15) Trains (9)  Politics Stories Voting for Change? Scarborough-Guildwood: 2006 Results Two Days Before Election Beer And Popcorn Scarborough-Guildwood: Past Results One Percent Solution? A Winter Election? Same-Sex Marriage Bill Passes Stephen and Belinda and Paul Shocked I Say, Shocked! Traditional Marriage - What Is It? Terri Schiavo is Dead Support Minority Marriage Rights Archives April 2008 (1) March 2008 (7) February 2008 (2) January 2008 (5) December 2007 (4) November 2007 (4) October 2007 (8) June 2007 (2) October 2006 (2) July 2006 (1) May 2006 (3) April 2006 (1) March 2006 (3) February 2006 (1) January 2006 (6) December 2005 (5) November 2005 (5) August 2005 (18) July 2005 (29) June 2005 (13) May 2005 (2) April 2005 (5) March 2005 (8) February 2005 (4)  Unclassifieds FAQ Guest book Recommended Links 
|
Linda Keen Strikes BackCategory: Politics "When it comes to nuclear facilities, ignoring safety requirements is simply not an option, not now, not ever." Linda Keen at a House committee meeting on the shutdown of the Chalk River nuclear reactor. Do politicians know more about nuclear safety than the former head of Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission? That is, should we leave nuclear safety to politicians instead of people who are expert in the field? Of course not! And yet we have a situation where Canadian politicians of all parties voted to restart the Chalk River nuclear reactor against the advice of the experts. What about those of us who live near other nuclear reactors, such as the eight at Pickering? Will politicians make the decisions regarding the operational safety of these reactors too? I hope not! But they've clearly shown that they're not above putting politics ahead of science. It's gotten even more silly now: Opposition parties that voted for restarting the Chalk River reactor are now calling for a public inquiry on Linda Keen's dismissal! Certainly an inquiry is a good idea. But more importantly, that reactor at Chalk River should be shut down until the required safety improvements are implemented. Keen reports one in a thousand odds for an accident at Chalk River, one thousand time worse than international standards. That's unacceptable even in other less serious engineering domains. That is, do you want one in a thousand odds of an accident while driving your car? Or using a power tool? Or should we start electing scientists as our members of parliament, instead of lawyers and economists? By the way, there was a great editorial cartoon in a local newspaper a couple of weeks ago. The scene is Stephen Harper's office. His secretary is bringing in the new nuclear safety watchdog, Homer Simpson! I don't think I laughed at that cartoon. Hans path: /Politics | permanent link to this entry  | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
