Commission approves license for Point Lepreau

Following public hearings last October and December, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) announced on February 17 its decision to renew the operating license for the Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station for a five-year period, until June 30, 2017. The commission also granted New Brunswick Power permission to proceed with refueling and restarting the refurbished reactor, which lies 28 miles from the Eastport/Lubec area, by next fall.
The commission, in making its decision, considered information presented at a public hearing held on October 6 in Ottawa and on December 1 and 2 in Saint John. During the hearing, a number of intervenors questioned the risk posed by earthquakes to the reactor. Michel Duguay, director of the Movement for a Nuclear-Free Quebec and a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Laval University, summarized the testimony presented during the hearing and writes that among the points brought out are that "a severe nuclear accident triggered by an earthquake is no longer considered to be a far remote possibility" and that "neither the CNSC nor New Brunswick Power can guarantee that radioactive elements will remain confined in the reactor." He points to the testimony of intervenor Gordon Edwards, a mathematician, who stated that the probability of a severe nuclear accident is close to that of obtaining three sixes upon the single throw of three dice.
Dr. Greg Rzentkowski, CNSC director general, division of nuclear power reactors, stated during the hearings that the main lesson learned from the meltdown at the Fukushima reactors in Japan last March is that, no matter how low the probability of an accident may be, it could happen tomorrow. If a worst-case scenario occurred, the reactor would shut down safely, but the core would melt and there would be some level of unfiltered radioactive releases to the environment four or five days after such an accident. Those four or five days would be the amount of time during which people living near Point Lepreau would have to move away from the reactor.
In making its decision, the commission has recommended the completion of a site‑specific seismic hazard assessment of the risks posed by possible earthquakes. CNSC also required that NB Power share the results of this assessment as part of its public information program. The commission did conclude that NB Power will make adequate provision for the protection of the environment and people's health and safety.
The commission noted that CNSC staff present their annual Integrated Safety Assessment of Canadian Nuclear Power Plants, including the Point Lepreau facility, at a public proceeding of the commission in approximately August of each year and that the public will have an opportunity to provide written comments on this report.
Blair Kennedy, vice president of generation for NB Power, states in a release, "This decision signals a vote of confidence from the CNSC that workers at the Point Lepreau Generating Station are ready to proceed through the final stages of the restart process and to continue safe and reliable operations after restart."
Once restarted, the station will produce in excess of one‑third of New Brunswick's in‑province energy requirements. The refurbishment, which is three years late and $1 billion over budget, is expected to extend the reactor's life for another 25 to 30 years.

Groups call for removing radioactive heavy water
Along with the concerns expressed at the relicensing hearings, two groups are asking that all radioactively contaminated heavy water be drained from the core of the Point Lepreau reactor and replaced with uncontaminated non‑radioactive heavy water. The Atlantic Chapter of the Sierra Club and the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility fear that, unless such action is taken, radiation exposures to Lepreau workers and radioactive emissions into the environment will be unnecessarily elevated for the remaining lifetime of the reactor.
When an accidental spill of a few litres of heavy water occurred in December at the reactor, it was learned that NB Power has been refilling the reactor core with old, contaminated heavy water, instead of using non-radioactive material.
Sierra Club Atlantic Director Gretchen Fitzgerald said, "Due to the radioactive contamination in the heavy water, much of which had become airborne, workers had to be evacuated -- but two men were trapped inside for two hours because safety doors malfunctioned. And we have since learned that this radioactive spill was a repeat of a similar accident that happened 15 years ago, yet nothing has been done in all the intervening years to prevent a recurrence."
At the time of the spill, NB Power stated that the potential risk posed to the environment from the heavy water spill was negligible and there were no public health implications.
However, Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility President Gordon Edwards, says, "An estimated 1,300 billion becquerels of tritium was released to the environment as radioactive water vapour from this one spill. That's enough tritium in principle to ruin 186 million litres of drinking water, making it unfit for human consumption, according to Canada's current drinking water standards. And in 2010 the Ontario Drinking Water Advisory Council said that to prevent cancers in humans, the standard for tritium in drinking water should be 350 times more stringent."
According to a release from the two groups, tritium contamination of heavy water in a CANDU reactor is the main source of internal radiation exposures to atomic workers in the plant, through inhalation, ingestion and absorption through the skin. It is also the principal source of radioactive emissions to the environment, since tritium cannot be filtered from gaseous and liquid effluents.