Suffield anti-terrorist exercise 'realistic'
Staff deploy from mobile nuclear lab to find sources of radioactive material
The Canadian Press
(Edmonton Journal, 26 Feb 05)
MEDICINE HAT
Six federal agencies converged on a military base in southern Alberta on Friday for a training exercise on responding to a terrorist attack involving radioactive material. â Å“We (used) live radioactive substances so that the line between simulation and reality (was) virtually non-existent,â ? said Ted Sykes of the Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Research and Technology Initiative.
Called Exercise Follow On, the exercise at Canadian Forces Base Suffield used ground teams deployed from a mobile nuclear laboratory and helicopters to detect sealed and unsealed sources of radioactive material. The agencies involved were Health Canada, Natural Resources Canada, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, National Defence, Atomic Energy of Canada Limited and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The exercise was part of a five-year, $170-million program launched in May 2001.
Jack Cornett, director of the Health Canada Radiation Protection Bureau, said world events have made such exercises necessary. â Å“Events over the past few years suggest that no country is immune to a terrorist attack,â ? he said. â Å“We have to prepare.â ?
Dr. Dean Haslip, national defence field trials officer for the exercise, the material used was constantly monitored and controlled and at no time was it a danger to the exercise observers.