据CTV报道，今天凌晨离多伦多30公里的皮克林(Pickering)核电站出现大约73,000公升软化水(demineralized water )泄漏。
但加拿大核安全委员说，由此产生的放射性危险对环境和人们的健康来说“微不足道“。
安省发电厂昨晚11点33分通知加拿大核电监管机构，皮克林核电厂的A发电站，洩漏的7万3千公升软化水，估计是由于核电厂的封条失灵所致。
在此日本核电厂乌云笼罩全球关头，安省皮克林核电厂爆出此次软化水洩漏事件，令人瞠目结舌。
但加拿大政府当局强调事件并不危害公众健康，环境部及核安全委员会也正在监察情况。
此前，多伦多市府紧急管理小组也发出通告﹐提醒多伦多居民推高戒备﹐应对紧急状况。
Leak at Pickering nuclear plant poses no threat: OPG
ctvtoronto.ca
Date: Wednesday Mar. 16, 2011 6:13 PM ET
Canada’s nuclear regulator said on Wednesday that demineralized water found leaking from the power plant in Pickering, Ont., poses no threat to human health.
The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission confirmed the leak on Wednesday, saying that it appears to have been caused by a pump seal failure.
“The radiological risk to the environment and people’s heath is negligible,” the CNSC said in a statement.
The Ontario Power Generation notified the nuclear regulator late Monday evening that there was a release of about 73,000 litres of demineralized water at the Pickering A nuclear generating station earlier that day.
OPG confirmed the leak Wednesday afternoon, adding that the leak has been stopped and the faulty pump seal is being replaced.
“People are concerned about nuclear power, but this particular incident is normal water with a bit of radiation. It is well below our regulatory and other limits,” OPG’s Ted Gruetzner told CTV News Channel Wednesday afternoon.
In a statement, the OPG said the leak will have no impact on the quality of drinking water and poses no risk to human health.
Environment Canada and the CNSC are monitoring the situation.
Demineralized water is water completely free of dissolved minerals and not heavy water, which is used to moderate a nuclear reaction.
John Luxat, a radiation expert with McMaster University, says demineralized water is essentially distilled water used to feed steam generators.
“It is not radioactive; it is not going through the reactors. It is actually just going through steam generators to produce steam to drive the turbines,” Luxat told CTV News Channel.
“It is used to remove heat from the heavy water going into the generators, but it doesn’t at any time go into the reactor.”
CTV Toronto’s Paul Bliss said the Pickering plant separates the nuclear reactors from operations that do not involve radiation.
“There is a very big difference between what happens on the nuclear side, where the reactor is and the radiation is, and what happens in the non-nuclear side,” Bliss said. “I’m told this is from the non-nuclear side.”
The water is used to maintain the temperature of a cooling system. The water is taken out of Lake Ontario and has the minerals removed it so it not corrosive to the plant’s steel pipes.
The water was discharged back into the lake. The OPG said the water contained trace amounts of tritium that fell far below the regulatory limits.
Pickering, located about 40 kilometres east of Toronto, is home to two functioning CANDU power plants, with a total of six reactors.
Ontario has three nuclear power plants, one in Pickering and another in Darlington. The last plant, in Kincardine, is the second-biggest facility of its kind in the world.
Pickering nuclear plant reports water leak
Risk to public is ‘negligible,’ says Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission
CBC News Posted: Mar 16, 2011 1:04 PM ET Last Updated: Mar 16, 2011 6:39 PM ET
Ontario Power Generation has notified Canada’s federal nuclear regulator about the release of 73,000 litres of demineralized water into Lake Ontario at the Pickering A nuclear generating station.
The leak occurred at 11:30 p.m. ET on Monday at the plant located about 35 kilometres east of Toronto and was caused by a pump seal failure.
“The radiological risk to the environment and people’s health is negligible,” the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission said in a statement.
The nuclear regulator and Environment Canada are monitoring the situation, the statement said.
Andrew Nichols of CBC News reported about the leak on Wednesday afternoon and said he spoke to an Ontario Power Generation spokesperson who told him the risk is minimal but that such leaks are not supposed to occur.
Nichols also spoke to Gordon Edwards of the Canadian Coalition of Nuclear Responsibility.
“In his words, ‘What the hell is considered negligible?'” Nichols reported. “[Edwards] is concerned that it’s the nuclear industry that is telling you and I and telling the public what is considered to be negligible but he’s concerned that we don’t have a proper sense of what negligible is,” reported Nichols.
Nichols also reported that the leak could be a concern because Lake Ontario is the main source of drinking water for millions of people who live along the lake.
The leak comes as the world is watching Japan’s unfolding nuclear crisis, as multiple reactors face cooling system failures and possible meltdowns in the wake of Friday’s earthquake and tsunami.
Pickering A is the first of four reactors at the nuclear plant just east of Toronto. It went into service in 1971 and continued to operate safely until 1997, when it was placed in voluntary lay-up as part of what was then Ontario Hydro’s nuclear improvement program.
