It was a war of words this morning at the Canadian Nuclear Safety Hearing in La Ronge.
The dispute arose over Cameco’s bid to secure new licenses for its operations at Rabbit Lake, Key Lake and McArthur River.
The Sierra Club of Canada accused Cameco of wildly exceeding emissions in mercury, cadmium, uranium and several other items at these operations.
“Many of these pollutants aren’t regulated at all and those that are established are often not enforced,” the Sierra Club’s legal council Christine Elwell said in her opening address.
However many of the group’s reporting methods drew criticism from both Cameco and the Nuclear safety commission.
Commission chair Michael Binder wondered if the Sierra club could be confusing samples taken from untreated water-supplies and those of treated water:
“But you just told us that you know the difference between pre-treated water and after, this statement does not indicate you understand the difference. You are measuring…you are comparing drinking water standards with tailings which by definition are not drinking water standards,” he began.
For her part Elwell insisted the group hadn’t confused anything and knew what it was talking about, “I’m saying what you put into something has an impact of what comes out.”
“I heard what you said, but it’s not correct. The two are completely different . You don’t compare sewage water to drinking water,” Binder replied.
Another commissioner also rebuked the Sierra Club for raising allegations that could cause fear for nearby residents.
The Sierra Club insisted it carried out its research using scientific means.
It is also echoing earlier suggestions that Cameco’s bid for new licences be delayed until it sees full environmental impact assessments completed first.
Commission member Malcolm Mckee then addressed several concerns laid out by the Sierra Club when it comes to Link Lake.
The body of water is located near the Rabbit Lake mine and was contaminated back in the 80’s after contaminated mine water from the open pit mine was pumped into the system.
McKee says the site is under reclamation activities and there are no releases to the lake system, including waste rock piles or drainage.
“The water quality in the bay meets surface water quality objectives,” he said. “Lower Link Lake meets surface water quality objectives with the exception of total uranium, and then upper Link Lake is the one that requires the more extensive remediation and that will be addressed through the remediation plans.”
At the end of its presentation Elwell told Binder the CNSC had an obligation to act on the information presented to it.
Meantime, the commission also questioned an official with Saskatchewan Environment about so-called country foods like berries and other vegetation.
The commission wanted to know if there was any evidence that the mines had made them unsafe to eat.
Kevin McCallum of Saskatchewan Environment said they were fine.
“All of the data that we had found, so far in the 11-12 report, there is nothing of question that we were concerned with,” he said. “It is comparable to supermarket foods.”