If you’re a manufacturer looking to showcase your product with CIEN, please e-mail product releases to PLANT’s Assistant Editor Matt Powell.

For advertising opportunities, please e-mail PLANT’s publisher Michael King

For continuous use applications
	The Iroquois K100 rotary screw compressor from DV Systems Inc., an air compressor systems manufacturer based in Barrie, Ont., operates at a 100% duty cycle and is well suited for continuous-use applications where reliable, dry, clean air is required. The 100-hp unit delivers 463 scfm at 100 psi and an integrated, modular design makes the Iroquois a compact, quiet (at 75 dBA) system that provides high-capacity air delivery and stable system pressure. Variable speed, direct drive technology provides operating flexibility while optimizing energy consumption. Also in the product line-up is the heatless, regenerative desiccant air dryer for sensitive applications requiring clean, dry and contaminant-free compressed air. The ETC catalytic converter actively oxidizes hydrocarbons into water and carbon dioxide for pharmaceutical, food and beverage and electronics industries applications. www.dvsystems.ca
Portable units save energy
	Comairco has put its portable All Weather Air (AWA) compressors in insulated, self-contained packages for placement wherever space is an issue. Six models come in sizes from 254 to 320 cm high and lengths from 335 to 823 cm. They’re for use inside or outside (in temperatures ranging from -40 to 49 degrees C) and they run on electricity making them cheaper to operate than diesel portables. The heavy duty, sound-attenuated enclosure with easy access doors has forklift pockets for easy movement and placement. Controls are fully automated and circuit breakers are built-in. All models are either variable speed drive or fixed speed. Comairco, which provides air compressor systems from operations in Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, also offers optional remote monitoring. The controllers come in different screen sizes, they’re web accessible and have Modbus Ethernet capability. They feature pressure and temperature alarms, a 24 VDC power supply and they’re programmable to customer specs. www.comairco.ca
Vacuum with more capacity
	EXAIR’s 110 gallon heavy duty Dry Vac System is a rugged, industrial duty vacuum cleaner that sucks up large volumes of dry materials. A higher capacity drum requires fewer changes. The compressed air-powered vacuum has no motors or impellors to clog or wear out, making it suitable for the clean-up of abrasive materials such as steel shot, garnet, metal chips and sand. It runs at a quiet 82 dBA (half the noise of electric vacuums) and surrounding air is kept clean by the 0.1 micron filter bag that traps dusty particles. It comes with a 10-ft. static resistant hose, 20-ft. compressed air hose, shutoff valve, pressure gauge, aluminum tools, tool holder, drum dolly and a 110 gal. drum. Exair is a manufacturer compressed-air products based in Cincinnati. www.exair.com

If you’re a manufacturer looking to showcase your product with CIEN, please e-mail product releases to PLANT’s Assistant Editor Matt Powell.

For advertising opportunities, please e-mail PLANT’s publisher Michael King

Cameras eliminate thermal guesswork
	FLIR Systems Inc.’s FLIR A5sc, A15sc, and A35sc long wave infrared thermal imaging camera kits ease thermal benchtop testing applications in tight machine locations. The vision systems are available in a variety of pixel resolutions from 80×64 and 160×128 up to 320×256 to meet multiple spatial resolution requirements. The thermal imaging cameras provide technicians, researchers and manufacturers with a non-destructive, non-contact T&M tool that helps eliminate temperature measurement guesswork during product development and on the production line. The tool sees heat patterns and extracts temperature values via live and recorded imagery, and infrared technology. The kits include a compact goose-neck stand for easy aiming. Cameras are light and compact measuring 4.2 x 1.6 x 1.7 in. Plug-and-play compatibility through GiGE Vision and GenICam protocols, and a 60 Hz frame rate for streaming images provides camera control and image capture in real time. FLIR is a manufacturer of thermal imaging systems based in Portland, Ore. www.flir.com
Camera eases tricky inspections
	RIDGID’s micro CA-25 handheld camera makes tricky inspections, such as peeking into cracked heat exchangers or stuffy dryer vents, easier thanks to a 17-mm aluminum camera head and one-handed pistol grip. The camera is permanently attached to a fixed 3-ft. cable and slides into tight spaces behind walls and ceilings, inside mechanical devices, and in plumbing fixtures. Images are transmitted to the device’s 2.4 in. colour (480 x 234 resolution) LCD display that provides a 180-degree digital rotation. Four adjustable, ultra-bright LEDs are built into the camera head. The lightweight device (1.3 lb.) comes with a television output and 3-ft. RCA cable for video transmissions to larger displays. RIDGID is a manufacturer of handheld tools based in Elyria, Ohio. www.ridgid.com
Optics ease part changes
	Cognex’s In-Sight 7010 vision system completes tasks where standard vision systems may not be cost effective and vision sensor capabilities are too limited. The system is self-contained and includes autofocus optics with integrated lighting in a compact IP67-rated industrial housing. The vision library is simple and focuses on tools most frequently used in straightforward vision applications. A built-in autofocus capability available in five lens options matches working distance and field of view requirements for situations that require regular part changes or hard-to-reach spaces where manual focus adjustment is difficult. Cognex, based in Natick, Mass., manufactures vision systems and sensors for manufacturing automation applications. www.cognex.com.

When DV Systems promises to produce compressed air that’s of better quality than the air we breathe, it says a lot about the CEO’s confidence in his made-in-Canada operation. But it also helped the company land a significant contract.

The Barrie, Ont.-based manufacturer of air compressors has installed its oil-free systems in the soon to be operational Forensics Services and Coroners Complex (FSCC) in Toronto.

One of the largest facilities of its kind in North America, the 550,000 square-foot complex in Downsview, part of Toronto’s North York district, will open this fall housing the Centre of Forensic Sciences, the Office of the Chief Coroner and the Provincial Forensic Pathology Unit under one roof. The facilities it replaces are more 30 years old.

DV Systems’ 45,000 square-foot plant is staffed by 45 employees, four of them engineers who focus solely on R&D, developing products such as a new line of 200 horsepower air compressors.

Its products are made in Canada, a point of great pride to Bogdan Markiel, the company’s CEO. That might not have been the case if Markiel and his partner (and president) Garth Greenough hadn’t come along.

It all started with DeVilbiss Co. of Toledo, Ohio, which began producing air compressors in Barrie in 1954.

“When Garth and I bought the company in 2006, that’s when the Canadian company truly began,” says Markiel. Indeed, they bought it from two Americans who were shipping business segments elsewhere, including to Mexico.

“We wanted to develop a reputation for reliability and design products around that idea – simple in concept, but sophisticated and reliable in construction. And we wanted to make them in Canada.”

Everything the company designs with variable speed drives is to reduce energy and the CEO says a flexible manufacturing line gives DV Systems a competitive advantage.

“We cross-train our employees so they’re able to work in different locations along the line, which enables us to build a variety of products and move people around when demand for certain products peaks or decreases,” he says. “That allows us to be extremely responsive to the market and reduce delivery times because we produce everything to order. We’re able to have orders out the door in less than four days.”

System reliability helped to secure the FSCC contract, which the company completed in December.

“The system had to be fully redundant, so we installed isolation valves along the entire system in case one device has to be serviced,” says Markiel. “The compressors are sequenced so they alternate; giving each other a break.”

The facility adheres to LEED Gold Certification standards for the control of highly infectious airborne diseases, which includes a separate and distinct Containment Level 3 (CL3) autopsy zone, the first in Canada for a forensic facility. It also includes a dedicated air handling system with cascading pressurization and HEPA filtration of exhausted air;a ‘kill tank’ using heat from the treatment of liquid effluent; a dedicated body receiving area and coolers; autopsy and x-ray rooms; an evidence screening laboratory for the CFS; male/female walk-through decontamination showers to and from gowning areas; and an autoclave with a “dunk tank” for safe removal of waste materials and specimens.

Critical components in the compressed air system include two of DV Systems’ J75 Mohawk variable speed drive rotary screw compressors, one 50 hp rotary screw compressor, two desicant air dryers, and two ETC catalytic converters.

System critical
The compressed air has multiple applications from the mechanical bays and garage area to HVAC controls, lab stations and autopsy stations.
“The compressors sit on vibration pads, on poured concrete platforms to keep them as stable as possible and we’ve installed stainless steel pipe to reduce the chance of pressure drops,” says Markiel.

Working alongside contractor Modern Niagara Inc., which managed the FSCC’s critical mechanical systems, DV Systems had to ensure the entire facility would have a continuous compressed air supply. The ETC oil-free compressors remove oils suspended in ambient air according to ISO 8573 class 0, and they achieve class 1 even with hydrocarbon concentrations up to 154,000 parts per billion. A clean condensate with a hydrocarbon concentration downstream of the ETC is less than 1.93 parts per billion.

The system also produces a condensate that’s not acidic compared to other oil-free compressors, achieving pH levels of less than seven. The catalytic process minimizes bacteria, fungus and microbial content. And a protective shutdown unit prevents oil-containing compressed air from entering the network in the event of a malfunction.

Not that guests in the morgue or autopsy area would care, bottom line, the compressed air is better quality than the air we breathe – promise kept by DV Systems.

Check out a video of how the ETC compressors work here.

This article appears in the May/June edition of PLANT.
Comments? E-mail mpowell@plant.ca.

Brad Thorlakson says knowing that a family has been forever changed by the tragedy is devastating, and no words can express the pain of the heart-wrenching loss.

He says a shift supervisor who found Bradley Haslam freed him from the equipment and, along with two other workers, administered first aid until an ambulance arrived early June 15.

Haslam, who was part of the overnight cleanup crew, was transported to a hospital in nearby Vernon, where he was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.

Thorlakson says the incident serves as a reminder about the importance of safety in the workplace and a call to all employees to look out for each other.

WorkSafeBC says it may be several months before its investigators learn how the industrial accident happened.

Eliminating the “exception”  would have directly impacted the way manufacturers personalize and make modifications to machinery and industrial equipment.

“…The repeal would have had a detrimental impact [on] both the sector and the provincial economy, as manufacturers would be faced with increased costs, production delays, and further skills shortages associated with new rules requiring the formal certification of engineers in the workplace,” CME wrote in a release.

The “exception” allowed some professional engineering work to be done on machinery or equipment by employees who don’t have an engineering licence.

Had the regulation come into effect as planned Sept. 1, any customization or design changes to production equipment or machinery would have to be performed by an engineer or employee licensed by PEO.

“This is an Ontario-unique situation. The benefit is that Ontario repealing this section in the act now puts regulation on par with the rest of the country, which we hope will make it easier for manufacturers to move across the country,” Marisa Sterling, an enforcement officer at PEO, told PLANT in an interview in April.

See Altering Machinery? You’ll need an engineer’s OK after Sept. 1.

PEO says it’s disappointed in the government’s decision, citing grave concerns over a decision by the Ontario government to reverse a three-year legislative commitment that it says would have helped to ensure a healthier and safer workplace in Ontario’s manufacturing sector.

“Manufacturing accident and fatality rates in Ontario remain significantly higher than other provinces and the government had the opportunity to enhance workplace health and safety,” says Michael Price, acting CEO and registrar of PEO. “The repeal would have been implemented without any expense to taxpayers and little cost to employers, since PEO had committed to offsetting almost half of the licensing fee of anyone required to be newly licensed as a result of the repeal, and would have taken many manufacturing workers out of harm’s way.”

Ian Howcroft, vice president of CME Ontario, says the PEO was never able to prove how the legislation would boost health and safety, a driving factor behind the PEO’s initial bid to have the regulation passed.

“They could never say how that would work to the best of my knowledge to boost health and safety,” he says. “In our meetings, the PEO made nothing but bald statements about fatalities, citing wrong information and unsupported arguments.”

Price says the PEO pulled its statistics from Workers Compensation Board, which claims that more than 50% (2011) of Canada’s manufacturing fatalities occur in Ontario.

CME has always claimed PEO’s number are highly inaccurate, instead citing the Workplace Safety Insurance Board (WSIB), which suggests there was only 78 on-the-job fatalities out of the 3.9 million workers it represents in Ontario in 2011.

Howcroft says the regulation would have added unnecessary regulatory barriers and impairments, including impediments to attracting investment in Ontario while having companies spend huge amounts of money on process and regulatory requirements that weren’t going to reap any improvements in operational health and safety.

“Much of the success that Ontario manufacturers have had over the years can be attributed to nurturing a culture where safety is everyone’s business,” says Howcroft. “The repeal of the Industrial Exception would have shifted accountability to a single profession, and regressively affected the significance of that culture. This was – above all else – a thoughtful and sound decision.”

Safety exits were blocked at the Jilin Baoyuanfeng Poultry Co. plant and managers neglected to hold required safety drills or educate workers, State Administration of Work Safety head Yang Dongliang was quoted as saying, confirming workers’ accounts. No one at the plant took responsibility for safety, while the relevant local government departments failed to make proper inspections, Yang said, according to a statement on the administration’s website.

“An initial investigation shows that the management of work safety at this plant was extremely chaotic,” Yang was quoted as telling investigators and other officials Thursday at a meeting in Changchun, the capital of Jilin province in the northeast where the disaster occurred.

“The accident also revealed that local government and relevant departments failed in their responsibilities while oversight and inspection work was weak and incomplete. This was a serious case of negligence,” Yang said.

Monday’s fire was China’s deadliest industrial accident in five years and highlighted the continuing gross neglect of worker safety, despite the growth and sophistication of the world’s second-largest economy.

Initial reports said the fire appeared to have been sparked by an explosion caused by leaking ammonia, a chemical kept pressurized as part of the cooling system in meat processing plants. The fire broke out during a shift change when about 350 workers were at the plant.

In addition to the dead, 77 workers were hospitalized with injuries, while another 17 workers earlier listed as missing have been found alive, according to the Jilin provincial government. State media said about 90 per cent of the victims were female, their ages ranged from 17 to the 50s and they were from nearby farming villages.

The plant’s owner and managers have been taken into police custody, while Jilin province has ordered a wide-ranging crackdown on fire safety violations and checks on mines and industries dealing with fireworks and dangerous chemicals.

Workers quoted in state media said exits were locked to secure the property and to keep them from stepping outside for breaks, despite the requirement in Article 24 of China’s emergency response law that safety exits be kept open and clearly marked. China’s labour law also mandates safe working conditions.

Only a single door was open to permit escape. Workers trampled each other in the dark trying to survive.

China has a raft of laws on workplace safety, but those who monitor labour conditions say enforcement is lax, with factories themselves usually left to decide whether or not to follow them.

The Fukushima Dai-ichi plant suffered multiple meltdowns after a massive earthquake and tsunami in March 2011 knocked out power. It’s currently using a fragile makeshift cooling system that creates large amounts of highly radioactive water.

Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. (Tepco) said Thursday the leak stopped after some of the water in the faulty tank was moved to two adjacent containers, but that its cause is still unknown.

The leak occurred in one of nearly 40 steel tanks Tepco hastily assembled last month to hold radioactive water from several underground storage pools that were defective and also leaked. They are a portion of about 300 similar tanks of different sizes spread across the plant to contain the growing amounts of contaminated water.

A worker on Wednesday spotted water dripping from a seam on the 500-ton tank. The total leakage was about one litre, according to Tepco spokesman Masayuki Ono.

Three other tanks of the same design had similar leaks last year.

Tepco says the tanks aren’t intended for long-term use. Ono said additional tanks are being built with welded seams that are more watertight.

Efforts have been hit by a series of problems in recent weeks, including a rat-induced blackout, adding to concerns about its ability to safely conclude the decades-long process of decommissioning the reactors.

The massive amount of radioactive water is among the most pressing issues affecting the plant’s cleanup process.

The Nuclear Regulation Authority, Japan’s nuclear watchdog, urged Tepco on Wednesday to do more to halt leaks and to try to stop underground water runoff by 2020.

Runoff from the three reactors that melted in the aftermath of the March 2011 disasters and a steady flow of groundwater into the basements of the damaged buildings produce about 400 tons of contaminated water daily. TEPCO says about 300,000 tons of contaminated water has been stored in about 1,000 tanks at the plant, and that the amount will double within a few years.

Tepco plans to build additional tanks to increase the water storage capacity to as much as 800,000 tons by 2016.

It’s developed a new water processing system that can remove all but one radioactive material, tritium, from the contaminated water. Officials say the machine will reduce the risk of radiation exposure for workers and reduce the environmental impact.

The government recently set up a special panel to deal with the contaminated water problem.

Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq is announcing this morning that a company that ignores government orders and deadlines to withdraw unsafe goods will be handed a stiff fine.

Non-profits will face daily penalties of about $5,000, but other firms could face much higher fines depending on their track record.

However, Aglukkaq says most companies voluntarily comply with recalls.

Details of the penalty regime were put before the public in draft form more than a year ago, but are only being brought into force now.

They are an addition to the Consumer Products Safety Act, which also took years to wind its way through the legislative process because of criticism it gave the minister too much power in the commercial affairs of small business.

“Canadian consumers expect the products they pick up on store shelves to be safe for them and their families,” Aglukkaq says. “By introducing significant fines for companies who violate orders to recall unsafe products, our government is ensuring that companies who break the law will pay the price.”

The similarities between the two worst factory fires in China’s history suggest that little has changed for industrial workers even as the country has transformed its economy.

The bolted doors, clearly a violation of Chinese law, are emblematic of the often callous approach to worker safety in China that leads to frequent industrial disasters and an annual death toll in the tens of thousands.

While the country’s increasingly sophisticated economy has surged into second place globally behind the US, industrial safety conditions often more closely resemble those in struggling impoverished nations such as Bangladesh, where more than 1,100 people died in an April garment factory collapse.

“Throughout China’s modern economic development, there has really been very little consideration for the rights and interests of the workers,” said Li Qiang, executive director of New York-based China Labor Watch, which closely tracks working conditions in China.

Inspectors were combing through the charred wreckage of the Jilin Baoyuanfeng Poultry Co.’s processing plant, where fire raced through a chicken processing room in just three minutes.

It was one of China’s worst recent industrial disasters. The death toll is the highest since a September 2008 mining cave-in that claimed 281 lives, and closely followed two other industrial blazes in the past five days that killed two workers.

Workers quoted in state media said exits were locked to secure the property and to keep them from stepping outside for breaks, despite the requirement in Article 24 of China’s emergency response law requiring that safety exits be kept open and clearly marked.

China’s labour law also mandates safe working conditions.

Only a single door was open to permit escape. Workers trampled each other in the dark trying to get out.

The conditions closely resembled those at the Zhili toy factory in the southern city of Shenzhen where 87 young workers were killed in 1993. Exits at the toy factory also were locked, allegedly to prevent theft.

The Zhili factory’s owners allegedly bribed inspectors to overlook safety violations, including putting the workers’ dormitory, factory and warehouse all in the same building. The owners served brief prison sentences.

“The fact that the workers were locked inside in exactly the same way as 20 years ago … shows that laws are not being enforced and inspections are not taking place,” said Omana George of the Asia Monitor Resource Center, a worker advocacy group based in Hong Kong.

Initial reports said the poultry plant fire appeared to have been sparked by an explosion caused by leaking ammonia, a chemical kept pressurized as part of the cooling system in meat processing plants. The fire broke out during a shift change when about 350 workers were at the plant.

The plant’s owner and managers have been taken into police custody while a special Cabinet investigation team looks into the causes of the disaster, according to state broadcaster CCTV and other Chinese media.

George said ensuring that exits are unlocked and unimpeded is the responsibility of local government safety officials. But she said they rarely bother to carry out checks and compliance is largely left to factory managers.

“The law requires a safe working place, but these employers are under little pressure to ensure that,” George said.

China has a raft of laws on workplace safety, but they are often vague and enforcement is lax, said Geoffrey Crothall, spokesman for Hong Kong-based China Labor Bulletin, which also monitors industrial conditions.

He said that in addition, industrialists are often linked in a web of corruption and cronyism with local bureaucrats. Departments responsible for safety are frequently underfunded and enjoy little authority, Crothall added.

“In most cases, safety officials only get active after the fact. They have few real incentives to go out and find problems. They prefer to be inert,” he said.

Jilin province, where the plant was located, has ordered a wide-ranging crackdown on fire safety violations and checks on mines and industries dealing with fireworks and dangerous chemicals.

The poultry plant is one of several in the area where chickens are slaughtered and then quickly cut up into pieces and shipped to market. The process takes place in near-freezing conditions and plants are usually built with large amounts of flammable foam insulation to keep temperatures constant.

Established in 2009, Jilin Baoyuanfeng produces 67,000 tons of processed chicken per year and employs about 1,200 people. It serves markets in 20 cities nationwide and has won numerous awards for its contributions to the local economy, according to online postings. The plant is located outside the city of Dehui, a poultry centre about 500 miles (800 kilometres) northeast of China’s capital, Beijing.

In addition to the 119 dead, several dozen people were being treated for burns and for inhalation of toxic gases such as ammonia.

Chinese workers have little power to demand safety improvements because they cannot effectively unionize. China has only one official Communist Party-controlled trade union, whose local branches work closely with officials and company management.

Chinese statistics show a gradual decline in the number of industrial accidents, but the death toll remains alarmingly high. The State Administration of Work Safety said worker deaths fell from 79,552 in 2010 to 75,572 in 2011, before dipping by another 5 per cent last year.

The US, which has a population less than one-quarter the size of China’s, reports less than 5,000 work-related deaths per year.

Death toll hits 120 in deadly China chicken plant f

Workers trapped in buildings, plant’s complicated design made escape difficult

On June 4, 2012, two workers were loading steel beams onto a truck at an Encore Steel industrial facility in Ottawa. When the truck was loaded, one of the workers climbed onto the cargo of beams to ensure they were stable and to help strap them down.

While standing on the load, the worker instructed the other to use a forklift to move a beam closer to the middle of the truck. The beam slipped off the forks, knocked the worker off the truck 2.9 metres to the ground, resulting in fatal injuries.

Encore Steel pleaded guilty to failing to ensure that materials were lifted, carried, or moved in a way that did not endanger a worker.

The Ontario Provincial Court also imposed a 25% victim fine surcharge, as required by the Provincial Offences Act. The surcharge is credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.

The launch of the new union’s name and logo comes a year and a half after discussions and consultations on the New Union Project began.

The union’s new name and logo will be revealed this morning (May 30th) at a press conference in Toronto at 11 am EST.

Speakers will include:

• Peter Kennedy, CAW National Secretary-Treasurer and New Union Proposal Committee Co-Chair
• Gaétan Ménard, CEP National Secretary-Treasurer and New Union Proposal Committee Co-Chair
• Ken Lewenza, CAW National President
• Dave Coles, CEP National President,
• Trish Hennessy, Principal, Hennessy Strategic Communications and Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Ontario Director

Over 150 CAW and CEP local union leaders will be on hand for the name and logo launch, along with allied community representatives and other invited guests. Media are welcome to attend the event.

Watch a livestream of the event at www.newunionconvention.ca.

The company was fined $150,000 for the first incident, which involved three workers at the steel plant in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. On May 7, 2011, they were preparing to pour liquid steel from a large vessel into a ladle. One worker handled the tilting of the vessel, one was a helper and another monitored the pouring by looking into the 12-foot (3.7 metre) opening at the top.

The provincial court heard that an unexpected reaction occurred during the pouring, causing molten steel and a fireball to be expelled from the vessel. The worker monitoring the pouring suffered extensive burns, the others burns of varying degrees.

A Ministry of Labour investigation found that workers were not protected by a shield, screen or similar barrier.

During an incident on Aug. 31 the same year, workers were involved in another incident involving a sheave wheel (pulley wheel) at the top of a blast furnace. A rolling trolley with a hoist was attached to a stationary lifting beam to lift the sheave wheel. A worker pulled on the trolley to move it out of the way of the work, but as the trolley moved the worker fell off the beam and was injured.

A subsequent investigation found stoppers on the beam were worn and failed to protect the worker from the rolling trolley. The company was fined $50,000.

A third incident occurred at the plant on April 18, 2012, when workers used a forklift to raise a 350 lb. (158.8 kg) cart from the main floor to the mezzanine level. During the lift, the cart fell from the forks and struck a worker on the head, causing injuries.

The investigation found the cart was lifted in a way that endangered the safety of a worker. The fine was $50,000.

The court also imposed a 25% victim fine surcharge, as required by the Provincial Offences Act. The surcharge is credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.

The West Coast Marine LNG Supply Chain Project is described as a multi-stakeholder effort with the goal of understanding the “barriers to the use of liquefied natural gas as a marine fuel on the West Coast of Canada.”

The $1.2 million project is being run under the direction of the Canadian Natural Gas Vehicle Alliance and Marine Canada acting as lead consultant. There are 17 participants:

• American Bureau of Shipping
• BC Ferries
• BC Institute of Technology
• BC Ministry of Transportation–Pacific Gateway
• Canadian Natural Gas Initiative
• CSA Group
• Encana Natural Gas Inc
• FortisBC
• Government of Canada (Transport Canada, Environment Canada, Natural Resources Canada)
• Lloyd’s Register Canada Ltd
• Port Metro Vancouver
• Rolls-Royce Canada Ltd
• Seaspan ULC
• Shell
• Teekay
• Wärtsilä
• Westport Innovations

Beginning in the 2015-2016 shipping season, there will be changes to emissions regulations which will require vessels operating within Canada’s 322km (200-mile) territorial waters to use limit emissions of sulphur. LNG is seen as a fuel with the potential to help ship owners achieve lower emissions since it “emits no sulphur in the form of SOx and can reduce emissions of NOx and particulate matter by up to 80-90 percent. Greenhouse gas emissions can also be reduced by up to 25 percent compared with conventional marine fuels” according to information supplied by the West Coast Marine LNG Supply Chain Project.

But beyond its advantages, there are also challenges to using LNG in the marine industry. Currently, there are no Transport Canada safety regulations in place that regulate its nautical use. The government is, however, participating in the drafting of an international standard—the IGF Code for Low Flashpoint Fuels—by the International Maritime Organization.

For now there is also no common global LNG bunkering standard involving the transfer of fuel from an onshore facility, from a bunkering barge or from an LNG tanker truck. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is expected to release a draft technical guideline to address bunkering later this year.

“LNG bunkering is being considered by major ports around the world as one way to reduce emissions and enhance sustainability,” said Duncan Wilson, vice-president, corporate social responsibility, Port Metro Vancouver, “We are committed to growing Canada’s largest Gateway to the Asia Pacific in a sustainable way and LNG offers the potential to improve environmental performance and enhance our competitive position.”

In November, the project will issue a report addressing those concerns (among other regulatory issues). It will also document other aspects of LNG use including technology readiness, training, operational safety, environmental impact, and benefits to the Canadian economy.

On Tuesday, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) approved the utility’s request to increase unit 1 beyond 50 per cent of its capacity. This is the last step before allowing the unit to return to full operation.

Last July, the CNSC authorized Bruce Power to restart unit 1 and bring it up to 50 per cent power for safety evaluations.

“Bruce Power has successfully completed all safety tests and has met CNSC regulatory requirements to bring unit 1 to full power,” Ramzi Jammal, CNSC’s executive vice-president and chief regulatory operations officer, said in a statement. “Our oversight of the unit’s operation will continue through normal compliance activities, marking the end of regulatory activities specific to reactor decommissioning.”

Bruce Power operates two nuclear facilities, Bruce A and Bruce B, near Tiverton, Ont. Bruce A’s units 1 and 2 started contributing power to the Ontario power grid last year after a 17-year hiatus. Both reactors were taken offline in 1995 for refurbishment. Each facility has four reactors, which combined, generate just over a quarter of the power used in Ontario.

According to the Independent Electricity Operator, nuclear power accounts for about 55 per cent of electricity generated in the province.

The chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee accused Southern California Edison of dispensing “gobbledygook” about a 2004 internal letter that Boxer believes reveals possible criminal misconduct within the company.

“I don’t have confidence in Southern California Edison, given what I now know,” the California Democrat told reporters in a conference call, referring to the letter. “They ought to just tell the truth. Start now.”

Boxer’s statements reflect mounting tension around Edison’s proposal to restart one of two reactors at the seaside plant, while the company faces a tangle of regulatory steps and federal and state investigations.

The twin-domed plant between Los Angeles and San Diego hasn’t produced electricity since January 2012, after a small radiation leak led to the discovery of damage to hundreds of tubes that carry radioactive water in nearly new steam generators.

Meanwhile, Edison released a copy of a June 2005 letter that also shows the company had concerns about key aspects of the generator design, which appear to foreshadow eventual problems with tube wear.

Both letters were written to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which manufactured the generators.

The state Public Utilities Commission, which is conducting a separate probe into costs tied to the long-running shutdown, said a preliminary review showed Edison failed to provide either letter to the agency or parties involved in its investigation.

“We are considering whether Edison had a duty to disclose the letters earlier,” commission executive director Paul Clanon said in a statement. “More importantly, we need to investigate whether Edison took unnecessary risks, or tried to evade regulatory oversight, when the steam generators were replaced.”

Edison said the letters show the company “exercised responsible oversight” while the generator designs were being developed. It said both letters were given to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in April.

“We believe that the determination for restart must be made based on technical merits,” Pete Dietrich, SCE senior vice-president and chief nuclear officer, said in a statement.

“SCE’s own oversight … complied with industry standards and best practices,” Dietrich added. “SCE would never, and did not, install steam generators that it believed would impact public safety or impair reliability.”

Boxer said the 2004 letter, written by a senior SCE executive and obtained by her office, suggests “Edison intentionally misled the public and regulators” to avoid a potentially long and costly review of the generators before they went into service. The contents of the letter were first reported by The Associated Press.

Anti-nuclear activists trying to block the restart have long argued that Edison duped the NRC about extensive design changes to avoid a lengthy, trial-like review, known as a license amendment, that in some cases can take up to two years to complete.

The 2004 letter goes to a central issue at San Onofre, where Edison is seeking federal permission to restart the Unit 2 reactor and run it at reduced power in an effort to halt tube damage.

The replacement generators were different than the originals—they were 23.6 tons heavier and hundreds of additional tubes were added as part of design changes, for example. Edison installed the equipment in a US$670 million overhaul in 2009 and 2010 without an extended NRC review after concluding the new machines met a federal test to qualify as largely the same as the ones they replaced, requiring little or no changes to safety systems or components in the plant.

Such equipment swaps, sometimes referred to as “like-for-like” replacements, are common in the industry.

But the Nov. 30, 2004, letter from SCE Vice-President Dwight E. Nunn states that “although the old and new steam generators will be similar in many respects they aren’t like-for-like replacements.”

Edison “told regulators one thing and did another,” Boxer said.

The company said “at no time did SCE hide the differences from the NRC, nor did it seek to mislead the NRC.”

It’s not clear is what, if any, design changes were made after Nunn’s 2004 letter.

The 2005 letter, released by Edison and also written by Nunn to Mitsubishi, warned about dry steam that could damage tubes and the potential for wear in an area where the tubes make a U-shaped turn.

The “industry’s experience with tube wear in the U-bend region of the large steam generators is not encouraging,” Nunn wrote. “This is of a great concern to Edison, because our steam generators are one of the largest in the Industry.”

It’s not clear is what, if any, design changes were made after Nunn’s letters. Excessively dry steam in the generators and damage around the U-bend tube area both factored in damage at San Onofre, investigators found.

Boxer also raised questions about transparency at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which is considering Edison’s restart plan.

She said her office asked the agency months ago for copies of correspondence between Edison and Mitsubishi, but never received the 2004 and 2005 letters. She did not say how her office obtained them.

She also said she was alarmed by equivocal statements from the NRC about whether it will conclude ongoing investigations at San Onofre before a restart decision.

The NRC has previously disclosed that its Office of Investigations and Office of the Inspector General are conducting probes into “allegations of wilful wrongdoing,” but provided no details.

“I don’t appreciate the way this has been handled,” she said.

NRC spokesman Eliot Brenner declined comment.

Gradual wear is common in steam generator tubing, but the rate of erosion at San Onofre alarmed officials since the equipment is relatively new. Federal investigators last year concluded that a botched computer analysis resulted in design flaws that were largely to blame for the unusual tube wear.

Nunn said in 2004 that designing supports for the tubes would be tricky since larger generators appear more susceptible to tube wear, and added that he was “concerned that there is the potential that design flaws could be inadvertently introduced into the steam generator design that will lead to unacceptable consequences,” including tube damage.

“This would be a disastrous outcome for both of us,” he said.

Costs for the long-running shutdown have topped US$553 million.

Last month, SCE’s parent, Edison International, raised the possibility of retiring the plant if it can’t get one reactor running later this year.

Two Nuclear Regulatory Commission specialist inspectors will join the on-site NRC inspectors “to assess the circumstances surrounding the discovery,” the agency said in a news release.

Plant operator Duke Energy said last week it found a quarter-inch mark of corrosion and cracking in the covering of the reactor vessel, which contains heat produced by the nuclear core’s energy. The crack did not penetrate the vessel head and there was no evidence of radiation leakage, the NRC and Duke Energy said.

“There was no immediate threat to the public or plant workers, but because the discovery is on the vessel head and was not seen in the original review, we are sending specialists from our Atlanta office to further evaluate the issue,” said Victor McCree, the NRC’s Southeast regional manager. “The special inspection team will work to analyze and understand all the details.”

Duke Energy has started the repair process, the agency said. The company expects to have the reactor back in production within weeks, Duke Energy said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last week.

Charlotte-based Duke Energy took over the Harris plant after it acquired Raleigh-based Progress Energy last year, which made it the country’s largest electric company. The utility is co-operating with the NRC inspection, Duke Energy spokeswoman Rita Sipe said in an email.

“We have a team that is also performing our own evaluation to determine why this was not identified in previous reviews,” Sipe said.

The shutdown came as plant operators prepared for an upcoming refuelling outage by reviewing results from ultrasonic testing gathered during a refuelling outage last spring.

The on-site portion of the inspection at the southern Wake County nuclear plant is expected to take about a week and a half, with a report to be issued within 45 days after the inspection is completed, the NRC said.

The inspection team will review Duke Energy’s actions leading up to the discovery of the problem, examine the previous ultrasonic testing records, evaluate the company’s repair plans, and decide whether the discovery highlights any broader issues that other nuclear plant operators should be aware of, the regulatory agency said.

Progress Energy was cited last year for two safety violations at the Harris plant considered to be of low to moderate significance, which an NRC spokesman said last week has since been corrected. Regulators found problems with ventilation systems that would be needed if there were a nuclear emergency.

The investments will support small- and medium-sized businesses in areas ranging from ocean technology and natural resources to life sciences and advanced manufacturing. RDC’s investment is more than $1.8 million in the 12 R&D projects and the total project costs are more than $4.9 million, co-funded by the participating companies and other partner organizations.

The RDC is a provincial crown corporation responsible for improving Newfoundland and Labrador’s research and development performance. RDC works with research and development stakeholders including business, academia and government agencies and departments to make strategic research and development related investments in people, research opportunities and infrastructure.

Some of the projects include:

ExtremeOcean Innovation Inc.
ExtremeOcean Innovation Inc. is a marine technology start-up company formed in 2010 and located in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador. The aim of this project is to advance the development of a unique vessel for accessing offshore wind turbines known as the TranSPAR Craft (TranSPAR). The TranSPAR is a propelled spar marine vehicle. It was created due to a need defined by a consortium of energy companies through the UK-based Carbon Trust’s Offshore Wind Accelerator Access global design competition. RDC’s investment is $250,000 of a total project cost of $607,300.

eSonar Inc.
Based in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, eSonar Inc. was incorporated in 2008 to service, develop, manufacture and market electronic and acoustic products for the marine and ocean technology markets. eSonar Inc. is using RDC funding to develop an integrated purse seining system that will transmit data to aid in the launching and retrieving of a purse seine to improve the purse seine fishing market by providing vessel captains with a monitoring system for launching and retrieving the seines. RDC’s investment is $250,000 of a total project cost of $445,713.

Kraken Sonar Systems Inc.

Kraken Sonar Systems Inc. is based in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador as a developer, manufacturer and marketer of sonar devices for the deep sea commercial fisheries, defence and ocean sciences sectors. Through this project, the company has developed a program to create a bathymetric synthetic aperture scanning sonar product. This product would be deployed on unmanned underwater vehicles, as well as untethered and tethered towed bodies/equipment and could capture a higher resolution than the most advanced side scan sonars. DC and NSERC funding will enable the company to hire Dr. Jeremy Dillon as an industrial R&D fellow for two years. Dr. Dillon is a PhD graduate from Memorial University’s Department of Physics and Physical Oceanography, Faculty of Science. RDC’s investment is $60,000 of a total project cost of $155,000.

Click here for to view all the projects receiving RDC funding.

Nearly 700 residents from Hippo district in Miyagi prefecture, just northeast of Fukushima, filed a claim Tuesday with a government arbitration office demanding that they be given the same compensation as residents of Fukushima.

The government’s basic compensation scheme only covers Fukushima residents, which critics say is an attempt to minimize costs.

The Hippo residents said some radiation levels in their area exceeded those in Fukushima towns. Hippo district is about 50 kilometres northwest of the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant.

They demanded that the plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (Tepco), pay them an additional 70 million yen ($690,000) in damages.

Due to the huge costs of compensation and clean-up of the plant, Tepco has declared bankruptcy and is under state control. The compensation money paid by Tepco actually comes from the government.

Radiation levels in Hippo district are comparable to areas in Fukushima subject to voluntary evacuation, where residents are entitled to receive up to 720,000 yen ($7,000) for every child and pregnant woman, and up to 120,000 yen ($1,180) per adult. After months of negotiations, Tepco has agreed to pay Hippo residents about half the Fukushima amount.

Residents of areas just outside of Fukushima say they also face discrimination in legal protection. They say health checks, radiation monitoring and clean-up projects in most cases do not go beyond the prefectural border.

“Damages from the nuclear accident do not stop at the border. We hope that the compensation program is carried out in a way that reflects the reality of people’s lives,” said Koji Otani, a lawyer representing the residents.

Although the amount sought by each resident is small, the group hopes to be able to set a precedent, he said.

A massive earthquake and tsunami hit the Fukushima plant, knocking out its cooling systems and causing the cores of three reactors to melt and release radioactivity into the air and water. The radiation level in Hippo exceeded the annual limit for nuclear workers.

So far, Tepco has paid 2.3 trillion yen ($22.5 billion), about half of it to companies and business owners. That amount includes 1.6 million individual claims, mostly from voluntary evacuees. Because the amount of claims is expected to exceed the initial estimate of 3 trillion yen ($29 billion), the government has injected an additional 154 billion yen ($1.5 billion) into the compensation fund.

About 150,000 Fukushima residents are still displaced. Hundreds have filed claims seeking greater compensation.

Copyright © The Associated Press.

The Fair Labour Association says Apple’s largest supplier, Foxconn, has made all recommended improvements to working conditions that were due by the end of December.

The group says there have been “notable increases” in workers’ participation in union committees. Foxconn has reduced working hours, though not enough to comply with the Chinese legal limit of 49 hours per week. Foxconn is scheduled to do that by July.

Foxconn is also known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Apple joined the Fair Labor Association in January 2012.

©The Associated Press

It took the jury about two-and-a-half hours to find the three protesters guilty Wednesday on a charge of interfering with national security and a second charge of damaging federal property.

The trio spent two hours inside the complex, which has had a hand in making, maintaining or dismantling parts of every nuclear weapon in the country’s arsenal. They cut through security fences, hung banners, strung crime-scene tape and hammered off a small chunk of the fortress-like Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility, or HEUMF, inside the most secure part of complex.

Sister Megan Rice, Michael Walli and Greg Boertje-Obed, who testified on their own behalf during their federal trial, said they have no remorse for their actions and were pleased to reach one of the most secure parts of the facility.

Their actions were lauded by some members of Congress, who said the incursion called attention to flawed security at Y-12, first built as part of the Manhattan Project during World War II that provided enriched uranium for the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan.

The plant makes uranium parts for nuclear warheads, dismantles old weapons and is the nation’s primary storehouse for bomb-grade uranium. The facility enjoys high levels of support in the region, and Oak Ridge has always taken pride in its role in building the atomic bomb, viewing it as crucial to the end of the war.

A report by the Department of Energy’s inspector general said Y-12 security failures included broken detection equipment, poor response from security guards and insufficient federal oversight of private contractors running the complex.

For decades, protesters have rallied at the gates of Y-12 around the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima. Some deliberately trespass or block traffic to provoke arrest and call more attention to their cause. Some years, authorities have tried to deprive them of the notoriety by refusing to prosecute. In previous prosecutions, the stiffest sentence ever meted out was less than a year in prison.

Defence attorneys said in closing arguments Wednesday that federal prosecutors had overreached in the charges against the trio because of the embarrassment caused by the break-in.

“The shortcomings in security at one of the most dangerous places on the planet have embarrassed a lot of people,” defence lawyer Francis Lloyd said. “You’re looking at three scapegoats behind me.”

Prosecutor Jeff Theodore was dismissive of claims that the protesters’ actions were beneficial to security.

The head of an agency charged with safeguarding the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile said the breach is “completely unacceptable” and an “important wake-up call.” Neile Miller, acting administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, told a Senate subcommittee Wednesday that officials have taken “decisive action” since the incident, including a new management team and a new defence security chief to oversee all NNSA sites.

Rice said during cross examination that she wished she hadn’t waited so long to stage a protest inside the plant.

“My regret was I waited 70 years,” she said. `”It is manufacturing that which can only cause death.”

Rice said she didn’t feel obligated to ask the Catholic bishop in the area for permission to act at Y-12. Challenged by a prosecutor about whether it would have been a courtesy to inform superiors of her plans, Rice responded: “I’ve been guilty of many discourtesies in my life.”

Boertje-Obed explained why they sprayed baby bottles full of human blood on the exterior of the facility.

“The reason for the baby bottles was to represent that the blood of children is spilled by these weapons,” he said.

All three defendants said they felt guided by divine forces in finding their way through the darkness from the perimeter of the plant to the enriched uranium plant without being detected.

Prosecutors argue the act was a serious security breach that continues to disrupt operations at the facility. The intrusion caused the plant to shut down for two weeks as security forces were re-trained and contractors were replaced.

Federal officials have said there was never any danger of the protesters reaching materials that could be detonated on site or used to assemble a dirty bomb, a position stressed by defence attorneys.

The protesters’ attorneys noted that once they refused to plead guilty to trespassing, prosecutors substituted that charge with the sabotage count that increased the maximum prison term from one year to 20 years. The other charge of damaging federal property carries a maximum sentence of 10 years.

The protesters call themselves “Transform Now Plowshares,” a reference to the biblical phrase: “They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks.”

Copyright©The Associated Press