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Home My WebLink AboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 2014-04-02, Page 5letter to the editor Are we better off with PM Stephen Harper? To the editor: With the NHL regular season coming to a close, and the ensuing playoffs that will follow, hockey fans can be sure of two things, watching some great hockey, and watching the highly par- tisan, taxpayer funded "Economic Action Plan" ads that will be plastered through every com- mercial break. Not only are these ads costing the taxpayer millions, more than $120 million over the last four years, but the ads in question are highly par- tisan in nature and are promoting programs that do not yet exist, such as the Canada Job Grant which until only just now, been agreed upon in principal with the provinces. The cost of these ads? Up to $95,000 per 30 second spot. While the Harper Conservatives love to tout that Canada excelled within the G7 during the difficult times and coming out of the recession, one must only look at a few statistical numbers to question their claims of competency and eco- nomic stewardship. When the Conservatives came into power in 2006, the Liberals left with a $13.7 billion dollar budget surplus., which three short years later, shrivelled into what some economist would call a structural deficit. This deficit was prior to the 2009/2010 $46 billion dollar anti -recession spending campaign that saw so much Conserva- tive blue action plan signage along roadways as well as glorified novelty cheques signed by the Conservative Party Of Canada showered throughout newspapers and government web pages. The Harper Conservative party blew a budget surplus prior entering a recession that Harper himself, said would not occur in Canada. Secondly, the federal debt in 2006, when the Conservatives came to power was $457.6 billion. Since Stephen Harper has taken power the national federal debt has risen to a whopping $634 Billion, a full $177 Billion more added onto Canadian taxpayers. The national federal debt has increased more that 25% under the Stephen Harper Conservatives. That requires repeating, Stephen Harper has added more than 25 percent onto the national debt! The average Canadian household debt has risen under the Harper Conservatives, from $1.31 per $1 of income to $1.64 per $1 of income. Rising housing prices, aided by Jim Flaherty's 40 year, zero down mortgage have been a large con- tributor to this added household debt. Rising fuel, food and heating bills among oth- ers, combined with stagnated wages for the aver- age worker also have contributed to this rise in debt. Since bringing in the 40 year/zero down mortgage, the Conservatives have completely reversed their position, but too long after the damage was already done. Forty two percent of Canadian families live paycheck to paycheck. One must wonder, is the average Canadian better off, financially and in a more stable posi- tion than they were prior to Stephen Harpers tenure? Is Canada better off with the so called "Strong Stable Leadership" of Stephen Harper, or is Can- ada doing well in spite of him? One only needs to look at the numbers above and question the financial direction of this current Government. Jason Gibson, Ripley Wednesday, April 2, 2014 • Lucknow Sentinel 5 Ontario Power Generation ordered to resubmit DGR safety case Steven Goetz QMI Agency Ontario Power Generation (OPG) must resubmit the safety case for its proposal to bury nuclear waste at the Bruce nuclear site after a retired OPG chemist and research scientist discovered the radioactivity level of the waste material was grossly underestimated. "Recent correspondence between Dr. Frank Greening and the [Nuclear Waste Man- agement Organization] has raised questions regarding the accuracy of OPG's [inventory of nuclear waste]," the independ- ent federal panel reviewing the proposal wrote in a letter on Mar. 21. "The concentrations of some radioisotopes appear to have been significantly under- estimated or not estimated at all." The joint review panel (JRP) -- which will recommend to the federal environment minister whether the project should be approved -- ordered OPG to submit a new safety assessment and a plan to improve the accu- racy of its inventory of waste slated to be buried. If approved, the project -- known as the deep geologic repository (DGR) for low- and intermediate -level nuclear waste -- will see waste from Ontario's nuclear fleet buried in vaults carved out of limestone 680 metres beneath the ground, site, about 1.2 kilometres from the shores of Lake Huron on OPG land in Tiverton. While not including the spent reactor fuel, some of the waste material will stay dangerously radioactive for over 100,000 years. Greening first raised the alarm over OPG's faulty esti- mates in a letter to the NWMO in January. The NWMO acknowledged in writing on Feb. 20 that OPG's estimates were low, noting the radioactivity of pressure -tube waste "is significantly underes- timated by a factor of 2,300:' After re -running computer models with the new data, the NWMO wrote that it had con- cluded the revised estimates "do not change the safety case (The NWMO is providing technical support to OPG on the project and is currently looking for a site to locate a similar facil- ity for spent fuel from Canada's nuclear reactor fleet.) OPG is asked to include "plans for an independent expert evaluation" of its meth- ods and verification procedures in its response, and the panel has asked the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) to conduct its own review in light of Greening's findings. With a PhD in chemistry, Greening worked for Ontario Hydro, and then OPG, for more than 30 years. He was a special- ist studying the pressure tubes that surround the uranium fuel inside nuclear reactors, which are some of the most radioac- tive material to be buried if the DGR receives regulatory approval. In a telephone interview, Greening told the Kincardine News he decided to look at OPG's estimates for the radioac- tivity of pressure tubes and dis- covered they were "very low given the data that is readily available." "I reached the conclusion their numbers were suspect so I wrote to tell them they were get- ting it wrong," Greening said. Despite having real-world measurements from nuclear facilities in Canada, OPG decided to use theoretical mod- els to present the potential radi- oactivity of the material, Green- ing said. "I asked them why they relied on calculations instead of data from real measurements and they have basically ignored the question," he said. "It is not as if this data is not available to them:' In its letter to Greening, the NWMO acknowledged his com- plaint that OPG did not include the radiation from garter springs - round coils that wrap around the pressure tubes -- in their cal- culations. Although small in size, the springs are in the run- ning for most radioactive mate- rial to come out of the reactors after spent fuel. The panel also requested OPG and the CNSC report on a radia- tion leak at a nuclear waste site in New Mexico, which OPG cited in regulatory filings as an example of a successful facility. In February, monitors began detecting radiation in under- ground vaults below the waste isolation pilot plant (WIPP) out- side Carlsbad. Thirteen aboveground work- ers later tested positive for "radi- ological contamination" and the facility was closed to personnel. An independent agency detected airborne radiation -- within government safety standards but higher than previously recorded -- about a kilometre from the facility. The panel told OPG and the CNSC to report on the relevance of the WIPP leak "to worker and public health and safety at the proposed DGR" and how such an inci- dent was accounted for in OPG's models for "accidents, malfunctions, and malevo- lent acts." The WIPP is operated by the U.S. Department of Energy and is used to store radioactive materials from the U.S. nuclear weapons program in vaults carved into salt deposits. It is one of only a few underground nuclear storage facilities anywhere in the world and was visited by members of the federal panel so they could better under- stand OPG's proposed facil- ity in Kincardine. In its filings, OPG cited the WIPP -- and facilities in Swe- den and Finland -- for "a proven track record interna- tionally in the safe manage- ment of low and intermedi- ate nuclear waste The panel has promised to hold additional days of pub- lic hearings after OPG makes new submissions, promising to delay any final recommen- dation. Hearings had origi- nally ended in the fall. SUDOKU THIS WEEK'S PUZZLE !SPONSORED BY ne ticknow sentinel Your noricluw.q rionpapar since 619 Campbell Street.. Bax 4.00 Lutluktniv„ ON NOG 21-10 319 -S28 -H22 - wwviducknowsentinel..cDm 6 . 8 , 57 , 4 4 0 . 1 1 3 9 . - , 1 , , 1 , 5 9 , 2 5 o 4 1 1 8 9 3 9 1 ANSIA ER 99Z L6EL917 17 6 E L 9 9 8 I- TO SCAM L 9 I. 8 17 E 9 6 a Dicluhu ARA@ awry runlx:- Zt 6E9L 9 I- 9 Imm I to rriLNI.K.wir II: 1 &VI a tt I El ri na mica' zdinns 9 I- 9 17 9 6 Z E Z. . 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