La Ronge Hosts Uranium Mine Hearings

Wednesday, June 09, 2004 at 13:22

Members of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission are in La Ronge for two days of hearings regarding proposed developments in the northern uranium industry.

This is the first time the CNSC has ever held hearings in northern Saskatchewan.

Today’s hearing concerns COGEMA’s plan to decommission the Cluff Lake mine.

Commission members are hearing a number of presentations from groups and individuals that have been granted standing at the hearing.

They include the Inter Church Uranium Committee, Saskatchewan Environment, the village of La Loche and several Environmental Quality Committees from northern Saskatchewan.

La Loche mayor Georgina Jolibois is using the opportunity to slam COGEMA over what she feels was a poor job by the company to employ local residents at the mine.

A decision on Cogema’s request for a decommissioning licence will likely be handed down in six weeks.

Tomorrow, the CNSC will hear more submissions, this time over Cameco’s plan to build the long-awaited Cigar Lake uranium mine.

Tomorrow’s hearing will deal with an environmental assessment of the project.

A hearing regarding the application for a construction licence for Cigar Lake will be held in Ottawa sometime in July.