Canadian nuclear plant spills tritium and hydrazine into Lake Ontario

The Toronto Star has reported that the Darlington nuclear power plant, site of 4 CANDU reactors, accidentally released over 50,000 gallons of water contaminated with radioactive tritium and toxic hydrazine into Lake Ontario. Predicatbly, the Ontario nuclear utility has downplayed any health risks. But documents on Beyond Nuclear's and NIRS' websites show that tritium, whether released into the environment "routinely" as part of daily operations, or accidentally via spills or leaks, cannot only cause cancer, but other maladies such as birth defects and genetic damage. For its part, hydrazine is so toxic that the U.S. military justified its shooting down of a listless satellite in order to prevent the toxin on board from reaching the Earth's surface, as reported by National Public Radio in early 2008.