Members of northern Saskatchewan’s Environmental Quality Committee voiced their thoughts last night about Cameco’s bid for renewed uranium operation licences at ongoing CNSC hearings in La Ronge.
Norman Wolverine has sat on the board ever since it was created.
He says he has confidence Cameco is committed to the decommissioning process, but at the same time he has concerns about tailings and the legacy of the mines.
He notes Key Lake has ceased operating as a mine and acts exclusively as a milling facility:
“This has obviously caused many changes at the site and many of the facilities that were once required have either changed in purpose or are no longer used. This includes the above-ground tailings management facility that were told at one time, was the best option for tailings management.”
Wolverine says Cameco should begin to prepare for the eventual closure of the Key Lake operation, to ensure the land is protected as much as possible:
“English River band members are always going to be in that area.”
He says Cameco officials need to be completely honest with local residents when they ask them what will be left to clean up.
Meantime, a former chief and worker at the Rabbit Lake mine says he thinks the company should also look at setting up decommissioning plans for it.
Victor Fern worked for the company for 23 years.
The former chief of Fond du Lac also sits on the environmental quality committee.
He says the Rabbit Lake mine is 30 years old but could be winding down in 20 years time, depending on the Cigar Lake deposit.
Fern notes a “b-zone” pond is being decommissioned but he wants to see more done, including the decommissioning of a tailings pond:
“We understand that this will be required in the next five-to-ten years depending on Cameco’s ability to access the Cigar Lake deposit.”
He says many residents are uneasy with the initial plan to remove the Crawford Dam and the subsequent future impact on Collins Bay.
Despite the concerns, Fern says the EQC does support the re-licensing of the Rabbit Lake facility.
For its part, Cameco says there are preliminary decommissioning plans in place for the three sites.
The evening also saw emotional words by a northern woman objecting to Cameco’s bid.
Candyce Paul of the Committee for Future Generations addressed the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission at length.
She told the commission she didn’t buy the arguments being put forward by Cameco and other stakeholders who support its bid.
She says she’s convinced the mines bring environmental problems and sickness to people of the north, like cancer:
“My point is, according to our old people, nobody used to die of cancer, it was very rare.”
She also says mines can flood and it’s impossible to know what effects these events can have on people living downstream of the water flow.
Paul calls much of the information she’s heard from industry and government “propaganda”.
Rose Roberts told the commission she was neither for or against Cameco’s bid.
A traditional land user from the Lac La Ronge Indian Band with a Ph.D in human ecology, Roberts noted that while northern Saskatchewan encompasses 47% of the province’s land mass, just 3% of the population lives there.
As a result, she says many of the northern residents regard the land as part of their culture, a fact that is hard to understand for many in the outside world.
She said many people go out on the land to relieve stress and it’s something residential school survivors often turn to when they need to cope.
Roberts also noted northern Saskatchewan lags behind the southern part of the province when it comes to several health indicators.
The Sierra Club of Canada’s intervention is being debated this morning.