Last week Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. (AECL) earned a First Down in this space. This week another nuclear energy organization earns a Touchdown. The global shortage of medical isotopes will be adversely affected by the shut down of the National Research Universal reactor in Chalk River. Not surprisingly there has been considerable finger-pointing and confusion as to what to do with the aging facility. However, very little has been said about what is actually going to be done about securing alternate supplies of medical isotopes. In a move that demonstrated clever communications, France’s Areva Group submitted an offer of assistance to the Canadian government. Areva is, as it turns out, a competitor of AECL and is, in fact, bidding against AECL and U.S. based Westinghouse to build two nuclear reactors in Ontario. But the offer from Areva didn’t have to do with that. Their offer was simply to assist the federal government in finding alternate sources of medical isotopes from other European facilities. What bolstered the offer was that when asked about the bidding competition Armand Laferrere, president of Areva Canada, simply said “I’d like not to link the two stories. This one, it’s not about competition, it’s about doing whatever everyone can to mitigate a health crisis.” As we so often remind clients in Media Coaching, don’t comment on topics that will take you away from your primary communications focus. We refer to that as sticking to you ‘islands of safety’ and keeping out of the swamp. By sticking to their message Areva presented itself as a concerned party that is looking for solutions. It wouldn’t be surprising, of course, if that was remembered and even considered when the bids for the new reactors are being judged. Good communications can have lasting effects.
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