Author: Sandor Demeter

Sandor Demeter says Canada is experiencing a nuclear renaissance. This raises concern among radiation safety professionals about potential health and environmental hazards. How can governments, the nuclear industry, and nuclear regulators not only reassure the public but also demonstrate that them that they are safe from long-term and accidental radiation exposure? For the first time, Canadian researchers have used electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) on teeth to measure lifelong radiation exposure for those living close to nuclear power plants.

In February 2023, a small cylindrical capsule fell out of a fixed radioactive gauge on a truck somewhere along a 1,300 km drive from a Rio Tinto mine in Newman, Australia, to Perth. The tiny capsule was found by driving slowly along the route and using a gamma-ray detector. While no one was hurt in this incident, Dr. Sandor Demeter, a nuclear medicine and public health physician, explores other potential outcomes and the possibility of something similar happening in Canada.