This is another in the series of anecdotes taken verbatim from Les Cook’s unpublished book “Birthpangs of CANDU”, a copy of which is in the documents held by the Society for the Preservation of Canada’s Nuclear Heritage Inc. (Les Cook was the Director of the Chemistry and Metallurgy Division of CRNL from 1945 to 1956.)
“During the first year there was a considerable epidemic of “the runs”. Speculation in town mainly circled the water supply (from the river) or the milk supply from Pleasant View Dairy in Pembroke.
A townsite “health committee” was formed and consulted Dr. Wilfred Park, the Defence Industries Ltd. town medical officer and manager of the hospital and sanitary matters. He assured the committee that the water was routinely tested and was OK, and that the Pembroke Dairy had been inspected by provincial inspectors as well as himself and was fully approved.
Unfortunately for Dr. Park, there was a leak out of his own department to the effect that the dairy had not in fact been able to pass the Ontario Health Department standards, and that Park knew it. A quick call to Toronto confirmed this. The chlorination equipment required for disinfecting had been ordered, but was not yet in place. This was revealed at a town meeting moments after Dr. Park had assured the meeting to the contrary. The embarrassment of Dr. Park and the DIL management, caught flat-footed in a cover-up falsehood, was intense. At first they indeed suspected a leak, and grilled their own medical staff to identify the “leaker” with a view to dismissing him. But soon they became convinced that the call to Toronto was spontaneous and unprompted, and chalked up to bad luck the whole embarrassment of being caught.”
The Society would be very pleased to receive further anecdotes about the early days of the nuclear industry. Anecdotes can be sent to info@nuclearheritage.ca or directly to J. Ungrin at ungrinjr@gmail.com .
