Cameco Granted Licence to Further Clean Mine Site

Wednesday, April 06, 2005 at 14:33

 

 

Cameco Corporation has been given regulatory approval to further clean up an old uranium mine and mill in northern Saskatchewan.

 

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission announced yesterday that it had issued a waste facility operating licence to Cameco for the Beaverlodge mine and mill site just outside of Uranium City.

 

The licence authorizes Cameco to manage and store “nuclear substances associated with the past operation and decommissioning” of the Beaverlodge facility.

 

The mine opened in the 1950s and ceased production in the early 1980s.

 

Cameco spokesman Lyle Krahn says even though the site was decommissioned some time ago, the standards that were in use then are not as strict as they are now.

 

Krahn describes Cameco’s planned activity in the area as essentially a “housekeeping initiative”.

 

The water quality at Beaverlodge Lake has been called into question because of the uranium mining activity there.

 

In 2003, area residents were warned by environment and health officials not to drink the water and to limit the amount of fish they consume from that lake.

 

Krahn says Cameco is managing the site on behalf of the federal government, and is not legally responsible for the site or any damage to the environment that may have resulted from its operation.

 

During its heyday, the mine was owned by the now-defunct company Eldorado Nuclear.