The Rural Voice, 1980-10, Page 25A MATTER OF PRINCIPLE
Potpourri on pupils, plays and power plants
J. CARL HEMINGWAY
September! School and the refreshingly chilly mornings
when your fingers got pretty cold hanging onto the handle bars
of the old "one speed" going to high school.
Then there was the morning classes in the old school with its
thick brick walls that kept the classroom cool until noon.
We had multiple grade classrooms with the teachers doing
most of the rotating, popping in and out to teach a variety of
subjects to a section of the class while the rest had a spare to
study or do assignments of homework.
If the lesson being taught to the other half of the class
happened to be particularly interesting we could "eavesdrop"
and pick up a few bits of information that could come in handy for
the next year.
Lucky were the classes that had a "spare" the last period of
the day. They could clean up the homework for most of their
subjects leaving only a minimum of books to carry home on the
handlebars for the "after -supper" session of homework.
Seems like a long time ago, but the memories are remarkably
clear. September meant the end of summer and the beginning of
fall.
Presently, September brings the end of the Blyth Summer
Festival. For the first time we attended all four of the plays.
While I enjoyed them all to varying degrees I was most
interested in "St. Sam of the Nuke Pile." It seemed to be a
timely revelation of a serious problem and was very
thought-provoking.
While the operation of the power plants does mean a certain
risk, it can also be said that life is and always has been
dangerous. It seems to me that we are always faced with the
danger of "human error".
This is probably most noticeable in the number of car
accidents. But are we going to "scrap" the automobile? I think
not!
We have instituted laws for the removal of defective cars from
the roads, yet the injuries caused by defective cars are extremely
few and are usually not serious.
Just recently there was a strong push in a TV news report for
compulsory "driver training" for all high school students.
Both these programs could be good but we will still have many_
accidents due to "human error" which may vary all the way from
"one for the road," fatigue or a spat with the spouse.
There are things we have to live with and hopefully do a better
job of controlling.
Regarding the use of nuclear energy, the most serious
problem is the disposal of "waste".
I'm no expert, but it seems to me there should be some way of
neutralizing the waste.
Salt is one of the most used and plentiful mineral. Yet common
salt is sodium chloride, both of which are potentially quite
dangerous materials to handle and they can be separated into
chlorine and sodium.
However, chlorine can easily be dissolved into "javex" which
is common in almost every household and seldom causes any
trouble.
I don't know just what sodium is used for but it must be
comparatively quite safe as I've never heard of any disastrous
accidents.
Apparently, uranium ore is often found near the surface
without causing any trouble. We refine it and get uranium and
slag. We use the uranium in our "reactors" and get the waste
that gives off radiation which is dangerous for years and years
and years. What can we do with it?
I'm sure my solution isn't practical or someone else would -
have thought of it before, but maybe the idea could be useful.
If we can separate salt into two dangerous materials and
re -unite them with other substances making them safe and
useful products, why can't the same be done in the case of the
uranium residue?
To over -simplify the problem to a ridiculous degree, why can't
we just mix the reactor waste with the slag and dump it back
down an abandoned mine -preferably a uranium mine.
Just a closing comment. I was visiting in a factory office
yesterday to pick up an order for my son and of course I picked
up a Financial magazine. I do an awful lot of reading while I'm
waiting_ on something_or somebody. _ _
One of our reputey top economists made the comment, "the
government can't do anything about our economic or inflationary
problems that won't make things worse...but they will probably
to "
It only hurts when you laugh!
W.D.HOPPER &SONS
Water Well Drilling
R.R.2 SEAFORTH
Members of the Ontario Water Well Assoc.
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