Toxic Splash: Russian rocket stages landing in Canada's Arctic waters
Lat May, Dr, Byers wrote an Op-Ed for the National Post on this topic. He began:
- A Soviet-era SS-19 intercontinental ballistic missile is set to crash in Canada�s Arctic, with some highly toxic fuel on board.
- The missile, modified to boost a satellite into orbit, will be launched from Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia in early June. Minutes later, the first stage of the missile will plummet into the Barents Sea north of Norway. Shortly thereafter, the second stage of the missile will fall into Baffin Bay, just east of Canada�s Ellesmere Island.
- That second stage could have hundreds of litres of leftover fuel on board. Rockets used for satellite launches rarely consume all their fuel because they are shut down by onboard computers once the desired speed and altitude are achieved.
- The fuel used to power SS-19s is unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (hydrazine). A stable compound used to fuel missiles and power the thrusters used for manoeuvring satellites in space, hydrazine is so toxic that technicians wear pressurized hazmat suits when working with it. On contact with air, hydrazine degrades into another, even more toxic compound: nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA).
http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/canada-russias-toxic-waste-dump
The talk will be at1:30pm on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2017
at St. John's Church lounge, behind the church at Quadra and Balmoral Sts.
Please enter through the door in the garden on the North side of the Church
