AREVA Resources says it doesn’t have a timeline yet on when it intends to ask the provincial government to assume responsibility for the site of a former Uranium mine.
Spokesman Jarrett Adams says there are no longer any personnel staffed at the site of the Cluff Lake Uranium Mine.
But he says officials are going up four times a year to take readings of the soil and water.
In fact, he says, some workers headed up there yesterday:
“They do this on a quarterly basis. The first time we conducted these environmental tests was in December and today they’ll begin conducting these tests and they’ll be up there for the next few days.”
He says they’ve opened the area to traditional land-users, something they wouldn’t have done if they didn’t feel the area was safe to use.
Meantime an environmental watch-dog is urging the provincial government to put the brakes on any plans to take back responsibility for the site.
Peter Prebble is a director with the Saskatchewan Environmental Society.
He says the Cluff Lake Uranium Mine should stay under the responsibility of its parent-company AREVA until certain guidelines have been met.
He says lake shorelines and riverbanks should be restored to their previous condition while levels of nickel, uranium and sulfate should remain at baseline levels.
Prebble notes Nickel is an especially worrisome problem:
“It remains to be seen what the contaminants running of those will be and similarly there’s large waste-rock piles on the site and again you want to see what the contamination levels are going to be and it’s difficult to determine that in waiting just another 2 to 5 years. It would be wise to wait another 10 to 15 years.”
Adams says he’s not aware of any readings that are above safety levels.