Atomic Sleight-of-hand
SIR.—The main danger of the secluded lecture-halls of Edinburgh seems to be that they seduce the young from an ability to interpret facts. It was noticeable in the nineteen-twenties, when many of my contemporaries went off in hot pursuit of the chimera of Scottish nationalism, so that it ,v not surprising that they have lured Mr. James Forrester into under- estimating the true character of the people about whom he writes. Being human, the inhabitants of Whitchaven speculate a good deal about the activities at Sellafield, but, speaking as a " foreigner" with a mere fifteen sears' residence who can be fairly objective, I should like to deny his state- ment that "the people of this little coastal town are disturbed."
The atomic energy exhibition was organised not to allay local panic but as a genuine effort on the part of the Ministry of Supply to educate the public in the elements of atomic physics. It did not reach any pro- found depths, nor was it meant to, but it did interest most of those who went to see it, particularly the teen-agers. In this it probably achieved cite of its objects, as at the Whitehaven Grammar School speech day the guest speaker, Mr. C. Hinton, Deputy Controller of the Department f Atomic Energy, M.O.S., said that in the next two years the factory at Sellafield would require two to three hundred Acientists, physicians and
chemists, sonic with university degrees and some with ordinary School Certificates.
As Mr. Forrester himself seems to realise, developments in the realms of atomic energy arc proceeding at a very rapid pace, so that for a variety of reasons it is essential to have a well-informed public opinion. If he can suggest a more practical way of creating such an educated public than the Whitchaven exhibition, I'm sure the Ministry of Supply will be glad
Previous page
