Extension Granted For Cluff Lake Decommissioning

Extension Granted For Cluff Lake Decommissioning

Wednesday, July 29, 2009 at 14:52

 

 

A former resident of Ile-a-la-Crosse is calling on the province to show caution before it agrees to accept contaminated land back from a uranium company.

 

Valerie Drummond recently intervened at a hearing involving AREVA Resources and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.

 

In that hearing, Drummond stated that several questions need to be asked about the former site of the Cluff Lake uranium mine.

 

She questions whether enough precautions have been taken to keep contaminated soil from leaching into groundwater and tree roots — and whether enough time has been set aside to properly gauge the long-term effects.

 

The commission ended up giving AREVA a 10-year extension on its decommissioning license.

 

Drummond says she worries the province will agree to accept the land back before all the problems have been sorted out.

 

She says radioactive tailings stay active for thousands of years, so 10 years isn’t really that long a time.

 

Meantime, an official with AREVA says the company hasn’t adopted any set time frames on when it will apply to the province to take the land back.

 

Tammy van Lambalgen says the company will wait until it has a much clearer idea of what’s going on before it attempts to relinquish the land.

 

She adds the company is pleased with how the decommissioning process has gone so far, but will actively monitor the situation.