LETTER

Chalk River public relations

 

It seems to me that the Bulletin is the only media around here that I have seen covering the radioactive dump up in Chalk River.  My next door neighbour is an engineer and claims atomic energy is “safe as well cheap” (he is an electrical engineer, not an atomic scientist). He provided two contacts for information to enlighten me on this project, which I have tried. After listening to the only real person I could reach, I have to say I appreciate your coverage! Basically, what the lady there told me is that everything is “just fine and going on schedule” despite what she called “alarmist news reporting”. (I guess that’s you).

According to a Mme Dagenais, they have tested everything and “have thought of everything” and so we “should trust the science”.  It has never been done before, storing this much radioactive waste inside only a super-fabric barrier. Why is that a problem, she asked me! If we only did what has been done before, we would never advance. And then more general calming remarks – which I heard to be like telling us just to be happy, don’t worry (where have we heard that before?), and that there’s nothing at all for us ordinary people to worry about. To prove it she offered to send a portfolio of kitten photographs from Chalk River! No, she did not offer that, but it sounded something like that, only at much greater length.

Keep up the good work, Bulletin. We are lucky to have you!  

Colin Chisdale
Aylmer