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Canadian Centre for Nuclear Innovation to be named after Sylvia Fedoruk: http://ccni.nu/news/news-releases/canadian-centre-for-nuclear-innovation-to-be-named-after-sylvia-fedoruk.php
"The CCNI is being renamed in honour of Dr. Sylvia Fedoruk, pioneering
nuclear medicine researcher who helped develop cobalt-60 radiation
therapy to treat cancer (photo, left), and served as the first female
Lieutenant-Governor of Saskatchewan (photo, right).
Premier Brad
Wall today announced that the Canadian Centre for Nuclear Innovation
(CCNI) located at the University of Saskatchewan (U of S) will be
renamed in tribute to Dr. Sylvia Fedoruk who passed away September 26.
It will be renamed the Sylvia Fedoruk Canadian Centre for Nuclear
Innovation.
As a medical physicist, Dr. Fedoruk was the sole female
member of the U of S team that first successfully treated a cancer
patient with Cobalt-60 radiation therapy in 1951. The device and
techniques Dr. Fedoruk helped develop are used to this day to treat
cancers around the world. Daily, more than 45,000 radiation treatments
are delivered in more than 80 countries.
“Few individuals can say
that they touched the lives of millions of people, but that is the case
with Dr. Fedoruk,” Wall said. “According to the Canadian Medical Hall
of Fame, her groundbreaking research in cobalt radiation has helped more
than 70 million people worldwide. It is only fitting that we honour
her by renaming the facility after her legacy.
“Dr. Fedoruk had
many firsts in her lifetime – the first woman to be chancellor at the U
of S, the first woman to be the lieutenant governor of Saskatchewan, the
first woman member of the Atomic Energy Control Board of Canada. She
excelled at everything she did.”
“Sylvia Fedoruk was one of
Canada’s nuclear medicine and science policy leaders, as well as a
trailblazer in public service,” U of S President Ilene Busch-Vishniac
said. “As part of the U of S team that developed the world’s first
successful cobalt-60 radiation treatment, her ground-breaking research
has had global impact, helping to save the lives of millions of cancer
patients around the world and laying the foundation for U of S
leadership in nuclear research, training and innovation.”"
Fedoruk
Truly
remarkable! all scientists and researchers deserve a pat on the
shoulder!!! :) Canada ranked fourth in the world for scientific research
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/canada-ranked-fourth-in-the-world-for-scientific-research/article4571162/
"Canada ranks fourth in the world for the quality of its scientific
research, according to a survey of thousands of top international
scientists that was conducted as part of an in-depth report to be
released Thursday.
The report assesses the state of science and
technology in Canada and was done by the Council of Canadian Academies.
It included the survey of 5,000 researchers, authors of the most widely
cited scientific papers in the world, which put Canada behind only the
United States, Britain and Germany. By a second measure – how often
Canadian research papers are cited by other scientists – the report
placed Canada sixth in the world."
More on Australia's expansion of isotope production: this is a country with vision and will to make it happen: http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/NN-Australia_to_expand_isotope_production-0310124.html
Ansto CEO Adi Paterson: "Already Ansto produces half a million doses of
nuclear medicine a year which we distribute to more than 200 hospitals
and medical centres... Through the expansion enabled by this plan, Ansto
will go from supplying the medicine one in two Australians need, to
significantly contributing to the global nuclear medicine community
along with its partners."
More on the use of radiation: quite a nice video from IAEA: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRptApU7GFk
"Few plants thrive at altitudes of over 4,000 metres, where soil is
poor, water scare and the winters harsh. But farmers in the High Andes
of Peru can grow varieties of sturdy grains, such as barley, that can
survive under extreme weather conditions. These have been developed with
a plant breeding technique that uses radiation on seeds to induce
changes in plants."
Quite neat!: Radiation saves the bees! http://www.symmetrymagazine.org/article/october-2012/beehives
"beehives are irradiated in the same way as food products, medical
devices and agricultural-based products. Items—including bee-free
hives—are placed on a long conveyor belt that passes under an
18-foot-long, 50-kilowatt, 10-million-electron-volt linear accelerator.
Electron pulses each 200 microseconds long kill any organisms in the
hives by disrupting their DNA with no residual chemicals or hazardous
materials generated by the process. The slower the conveyor belt moves,
the higher the dose of electrons.
U.S. Department of Agriculture
scientist Jeff Pettis says that although the practice is only
“reasonably common” right now, it may prove a useful tool to combat
Colony Collapse Disorder, an abrupt disappearance of worker bees that
has been known to wipe out more than three quarters of a beekeeper’s
colonies."
great news: Construction of Japanese reactor to resume http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/NN-Construction_of_Japanese_reactor_to_resume-0110124.html
"The Japan Electric Power Development Corp (J-Power) will resume
construction of the Ohma nuclear power plant in Aomori prefecture. It
will be the first Japanese nuclear construction project to restart since
all such projects were suspended following the Fukushima accident."...
"J-Power plans to use all mixed oxide (MOX) uranium and plutonium
nuclear fuel in the reactor core of Ohma, which necessitates some design
variation from the ABWR standard. Amendments for the different reactive
and thermal properties of MOX fuel include a higher-capacity liquid
control injection system; additional safety valves to release steam;
control rods with enhanced neutron absorption; and automatic fuel
inspection devices to reduce radiation exposure to workers.
Ohma
would be the first Japanese reactor built to run solely on MOX fuel
incorporating recycled plutonium. It will be able to consume a quarter
of all domestically-produced MOX fuel and hence make a major
contribution to Japan's "pluthermal" policy of recycling plutonium
recovered from used fuel. This policy increases Japan's self-sufficiency
in energy fuels from 4% to 18% by making maximum use of imported
uranium.
The start of construction of the Ohma plant was originally
due in August 2007, with commercial operation planned for March 2012.
However, the imposition of more stringent seismic regulations put back
the start of construction May 2008 and commercial operation to November
2014. J-Power said that it has not yet scheduled a new date for the
start of operation "but intends to review the matter in the future based
on progress in construction.""
Too
bad it seems a similar faith for Bruce unit 1 is not happening for
Gentilly 2, even more sad that it is not due to technical issues: http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/C-Bruce_back_Gentilly_going-2109127.html
"Quebec Hydro's Gentilly 2 had been earmarked for a major
life-extending refurbishment, and in 2011 the CNSC approved a five-year
licence extension for the 635 MWe Candu which would have lasted until
the planned completion of the refurbishment by 2016."
