[Date Prev][Date Next]
[Chronological]
[Thread]
[Archive Top]
[cdn-nucl-l] FW: Weapons-grade uranium available in Canada
Posted on the Energy Probe news list on July 9, 2002 and at:
http://www.energyprobe.org/energyprobe/index.cfm?DSP=content&ContentID=4
487
(with a very nice graphic at www.energyprobe.org)
This issue came and went more than two weeks ago... But, I think someone
realised it can be milked even more... Paragraph 10: "And please
consider a generous donation to Energy Probe."
I would urge everyone on this list to also contact the Hon. Bill Graham
and insist that saving countless lives while safely and securely
handling their reactor fuel, and staying in business, is far more
important than succumbing to completely unfounded scare tactics.
Adam
-------------------
-- Weapons-grade uranium available in Canada --
*******************************************************
Dear Adam McLean,
Experts in nuclear weapons recognize that by far the most difficult step
in building a bomb like the one that destroyed Hiroshima is acquiring
sufficient weapons-grade material.
Yet a private Canadian multinational, MDS Nordion, has stockpiled almost
two nuclear bombs' worth of the material near Ottawa. And this company
is trying to import enough from the U.S. to more than double its
stockpile.
MDS - a medical supplier - likes to use weapons-grade uranium instead of
other materials that are not attractive to terrorists and rogue states
because it is convenient and profitable. As it said in 1999, "switching
to safer, low-enriched uranium fuel would be too costly and too
troublesome." Some of MDS's commercial competitors have installed or are
installing modified processes that do not require the use of the
nuclear-bomb ingredients.
Blinded by its commercial interests, MDS has failed to recognize its
contribution to the risk of nuclear arms proliferation and global
terrorism. When asked recently by the Ottawa Citizen about Canadian and
U.S. watchdog groups' concerns, a corporate vice president said, "It
would be the first time that I've ever heard that Canada is a
proliferation threat."
To our disappointment, Canada's government is less concerned about the
proliferation implications of trafficking in weapons-grade uranium than
the U.S. government. While the U.S. government has been trying to phase
out commerce in weapons-grade uranium, our federal government's own
Atomic Energy of Canada is building two new reactors and a processing
facility north of Ottawa on behalf of MDS that are designed to use the
convenient but dangerous substance.
These projects are proceeding poorly. AECL has experienced serious
safety problems, delays, and cost overruns. One reactor was started up
briefly, only to be shut down for extensive testing and renovation
following a failed safety test. The other reactor has yet to be brought
on line.
The delay in starting these reactors creates an opportunity to convert
to a safer process that does not rely on weapons-grade uranium. If MDS
is not forced to discontinue its commerce in weapons-grade uranium soon,
it will be more expensive to convert to a safer system once the two new
reactors are fully radioactive and the processing facility becomes
contaminated.
There is a growing international consensus that to reduce risks to
international security, reliance on weapons-grade uranium in research
reactors, test reactors, and isotope production reactors should be
eliminated. Canada is one of the last nations to engage in international
trafficking in weapons-grade uranium.
If you agree that we should stop putting profits ahead of public safety,
please contact Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bill Graham, and
urge him to bring Canada into line with international efforts to cease
all use of, and commerce in, weapons-grade uranium (see contact
information, below).
And please consider a generous donation to Energy Probe. We are working
with other citizens' groups around the world to stop all production,
stockpiling, and trafficking in weapons-grade material. Your
tax-creditable, charitable donation will support us in this cause.
Yours sincerely,
Tom Adams
Executive Director
www.EnergyProbe.org
Contact information for Bill Graham, the Minister of Foreign Affairs:
Hon. Bill Graham
House of Commons, Parliament Buildings
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6
(Postage free)
Ph: (613) 992-5234
F: (613) 996-9607
Email: Graham.B@parl.gc.ca
*******************************************************
SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE:
If you do not wish to receive similiar campaign updates
please return an e-mail to newsletters@e-p-r-f.org
with the words "unsubscribe Energy Probe campaign updates"
in the subject box.
*******************************************************