Dr Jennifer Hanigan was an emergency physician at the Saint-Jean Regional Hospital. She has been specially trained for the emergency treatment of patients exposed to radiation. She also participated in disaster planning.
According to her, if a radioactive leak occurred at the Point Lepreau nuclear power plant, the health system would not be able to deal with it. Dr Hannigan presented this opinion to members of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, which is holding public hearings in Saint-Jean on the renewal of the Point Lepreau operating licence.
” If a nuclear accident were to occur locally, our medical system would not be prepared to deal with it. »
Dr. Jennifer Hannigan, former emergency physician at Saint-Jean Regional Hospital.
Photo: CNSC videoconference
Dr Hannigan recalls, for example, that she witnessed inadequate management of the COVID-19 pandemic, and this in a system that should have been prepared to deal with infection control.
According to her, the fear of an accident at Point Lepreau is justified, especially since according to her research, there would have been 57 nuclear accidents in the world since the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.
Against the renewal of the operating permit
The emergency physician spoke out against the renewal of the operating license for the Point Lepreau nuclear power plant.
It discusses the long-term risks associated with the storage of radioactive waste. The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission should not continue to license nuclear power plants because they pose an unnecessary risk to human health.
She recalled that even a low exposure to radiation can cause cell mutations andDNA.
The Ministry of Health says it is well prepared
The Ministry of Health presented a diametrically opposed opinion. Director of the New Brunswick Department of Health’s Emergency Preparedness Unit, Carolin Galvinargues, on the contrary, that the medical system is able to cope with a nuclear accident.
The official explains: there is a designated hospital to receive and treat injuries related to radiation or contamination, and that is the Saint John Regional Hospital
.
Carolin Galvin, director of the New Brunswick Department of Health’s Emergency Preparedness Unit.
Photo: CNSC videoconference
Carolin Galvin adds that the hospital has the capabilities to meet and maintain a radiation-specific level of expertise
.
The official presented to the commission the Department of Health’s plan in the event of a nuclear accident, in which the department, Horizon Health Network, Extramural and Ambulance NB have a role to play, both in the field, where decontamination units would be set up, only in the hospital, where people who suffered radiation would be treated.
She pointed out that monthly meetings, under the auspices of the Emergency Measures Organization, take place, as well as annual meetings of health committees in the event of nuclear emergencies.
The Point Lepreau nuclear power plant in New Brunswick, commissioned in 1983. Its Candu reactor is one of 19 in operation in Canada.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Marc Godbout
Consultations with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission for the renewal of the operating license for the Point Lepreau generating station began in Saint-Jean on January 26. They continued Tuesday and Wednesday, in Saint-Jean, and should end on Thursday.
The CNSC must rule on NB Power’s request to renew the Point Lepreau license for 25 years.
Reference-ici.radio-canada.ca