Uranium Refinerys Critics Distort Story Dakers Says - The Standard, 1981

Uranium Refinery's Critics Distort Story Dakers Says

Critics of Eldorado Nuclear Ltd.'s Blind River uranium refinery have managed to "skillfully" convince the general public that the refinery's worse case scenario is its normal operating procedure, according to the Crown corporation's vice president in charge of refining.

Ron Dakers told the more that 230 people gathered for

public meeting with Eldorado and a number of regulatory agencies that anti-refinery critics have distorted what the refinery is all about.

"Unlike other industries, the nuclear industry is required to document a worst case scenario," said Dakers.

SCENARIO

Critics have taken this and have "skillfully conveyed to the public that this is the normal operating procedure of the refinery," he charged.

For example, he said the 400 pounds of uranium dust the refinery will emit into the air every year "seems a lot higher than it really is" and noted it will be only an ounce every hour.

He also noted that under a worse case scenario, the refinery will produce three tonnes of sulphur dioxide a day But in fact, it will produce .3 tonnes of sulphur dioxide a day under normal operations and when Eldorado converts to natural gas when a line is built, then there "will be virtually no sulphur dioxide" emitted.

MANIPULATE

But since situations like this have been manipulated by critics, a "controversy has evolved at least in some minds."

Dakers also spent time explaining what Eldorado was. He said Eldorado was "a commercial Crown corporation structured to make a profit."

Last year, it recorded a profit of more than $1.5 million based on $90 million in sales.

When Eldorado needs to raise money for capital projects, the money comes form "the commercial Canadian banks and not the Canadian taxpayer "

With 1,800 employees, Eldorado is a relatively small company, "certainly not a conglomerate." It will employ 200 more when the plant here goes on stream in early 1983.

URANIUM

Eldorado operates the only uranium refinery in Canada and is one of five operating in the Western World, he said.

Since 1970, Eldorado has provided nuclear fuel to 50 utilities in 12 countries and has a large contract with Ontario Hydro.

About 80 per cent of Eldorado's production is exported to Europe and Japan. "In many countries, they use uranium because they have to," Dakers said.