Tag: Pelindaba

Planned nuclear emergency exercise rated a ‘success’

pelindabaThe preliminary evaluation by the National Nuclear Regulator (NNR) of the planned nuclear emergency exercise held in September at the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa) complex at Pelindaba, west of Pretoria, was deemed favorable it was reported earlier. However, there has been no in-depth analysis of the exercise.

“The exercise was successful,” said NNR manager: nuclear technology and waste projects Thiagan Pather. “From what I’ve seen, Necsa seems to have activated its emergency structures and procedures and managed the situations well.”

The exercise also involved the Madibeng local authority, based in the town of Brits in the North West province. The local authority activated its emergency centre (with representatives from a number of municipal departments, including the fire department, as well as the provincial traffic police).

“Madibeng was also quite good, but there were some glitches and there is room for improvement,” Pather added.

The exercise was concluded in the early afternoon.

The holding of the exercise, to test nuclear emergency procedures at the country’s various nuclear facilities, is one of the responsibilities of the NNR, under the National Nuclear Regulator Act, No 47 of 1999.

Responding to a nuclear emergency requires coordinated action by the nuclear licensee (in this case, Necsa) and the relevant local and provincial authorities and emergency services. Consequently, coordinated emergency plans must be drawn up, funded and tested. The NNR must ensure that these plans are effective.

The scenario for the exercise is that an explosion has occurred in Necsa’s Safari-1 reactor building, inflicting mechanical damage on spent fuel elements in the reactor core and in the spent fuel pool. The reactor, which is cooled by water, springs a leak and loses cooling. Radiation is then released into the atmosphere and spread westward by the wind. (This is an exercise, not an actual emergency). The responses of Necsa and the other relevant authorities are being tested and will be evaluated.

The NNR stated that this scenario is not very likely to happen in reality. The exercise includes simulated casualties (both injuries and radiation exposure), the physical evacuation of personnel, the testing of transport and communication and other procedures. – engineeringnews.co.za

Racism ‘everywhere’

Racism

by Dan Roodt

With violence and anti-white racism rising in South Africa, Afrikaners need international support to survive. Our unique testimony of how a Western nation is being dominated by non-Westerners may just save the whole of our civilization!

Donate or subscribe to praag!

– See more at: http://praag.org/?p=11549#sthash.rD0j1X7w.dpuf

by Dan Roodt

With violence and anti-white racism rising in South Africa, Afrikaners need international support to survive. Our unique testimony of how a Western nation is being dominated by non-Westerners may just save the whole of our civilization!

Donate or subscribe to praag!

– See more at: http://praag.org/?p=11549#sthash.rD0j1X7w.dpuf

by Dan Roodt

Donate or subscribe to praag!

Sipho Hlongwane had to reach all the way to Slovenia (a little volkstaat that violently revolted against the nation-building of the old Yugoslavia) to discover the term “postmodern racism” in a tract by Slavoj Zizek (Living in postmodern racism, www.bdlive.co.za, November 11). I remember more than 10 years ago Claudia Braude introduced us to “subliminal racism”, which let her label all media in South Africa racist.

No doubt South Africa harbours a large variety of “racisms”: postmodern, subliminal, imagined, symbolic, public, private, and so on. Like the patient on Sigmund Freud’s couch, the country is in search of a “cure”, which could be either a rugby quota or another huge dose of black economic empowerment. Like a manic depressive, the Democratic Alliance seems to be vacillating on how racist South Africa really is, hence its recent volte face on more draconian affirmative action.

If racism had to end tomorrow, most of our academics would find themselves without jobs, not to mention politicians! So South Africa is married to metaphysical racism forever. Even in those “end times” referred to by Zizek, there will always be racism. Even if the dollar is replaced by Bitcoin and peak oil takes us back to ploughing with oxen, racism will survive as both an explanation of the modern world’s origins and its remaining inequalities.

American Craig Bodeker made a beautiful, minimalistic, black-and-white (in the cinematographic sense) documentary called A Conversation About Race. He interviewed people of all races on the streets of Denver, Colorado, asking them whether they thought “racism” was still a big problem in the U S. Of course, everybody thought so. Many of the subjects stated: “Racism is everywhere.”

Few people had any direct experience of racism, but they discerned it in other people’s body language, in their use of euphemisms or being patronised by others. One black man “who dates interracially”, as he described it, was complimented on being “a good dancer” in a club by a white man. He thought it was a racist comment as the man would not have complimented a white man in the same way. So the compliment, like the insult, may be construed as racism.

It seems that racism is the real motor of history, as opposed to Karl Marx’s class struggle or Friedrich Nietzsche’s will to power.

It follows that, like sin, metaphysical racism is insurmountable. It permeates our lives and contaminates our discourse. The radioactive cloud recently released from Pelindaba was much less of a danger than racism, which must explain why almost no one took any notice of it, while every day we agonise about racism.

Also published as letter in Business Day.

Donate or subscribe to praag!