Who's Monitoring Coles' Holes? (Uranium Exploration Holes, That Is)

Exploration drill holes act as chimneys to vent radon from deep underground into the air. Dispersal of radon gas into the atmosphere deposits solid radioactive particles hundreds of kilometres downwind from the drill or mine site.

by ANICE HARVEY

CIVIL SOCIETY

October 3rd, 2007

Last week, my morning radio show broadcast a phone-in session with Premier Graham from Fredericton. Most callers were likely unsatisfied with the response to their question, since most were calling with a complaint about government policy. But one caller in particular received an answer that must not be accepted at face value. This concerned citizen asked why uranium exploration is being allowed in the Turtle Creek watershed, the source of Moncton's drinking water.

A good and reasonable question. And one which should have elicited a different answer from Premier Graham, had he understood even a tiny bit about uranium exploration and mining. I paraphrase his answer this way: mining is an important economic activity which, in theory, could happen anywhere in the province, providing it passes New Brunswick's stringent environmental impact assessment process. He mentioned especially the economic benefits of the potash mines in Penobsquis.

Notwithstanding the fact that the Penobsquis mines have resulted in dried up wells and the need to truck water into dozens of homes, Mr. Graham appears not to understand three important things. Uranium is not potash; our environmental impact assessment process is not stringent; and drinking water supplies should be non-negotiable in the rush to cash out our natural resources.

Potash as a mineral appears to be relatively benign and quite stable. Uranium is different. It is a highly unstable mineral which continually breaks down or decays into what are known as decay products.

As uranium decays, it emits intense bursts of energy known as atomic radiation; its decay products, which are both solid and gaseous, are also radioactive.

Exploration and mining of uranium release these radioactive substances into the air, water and soil over long distances. These substances include, among many others, radium, radon gas, and polonium-210, the poison Russian agents used to kill Victor Litvinenko in England last year.

The market for radium, which the B.C. Medical Association described as a "superb carcinogen," dried up in the 1940s after too many people had died from exposure to it (bone and head cancer, anemia and leukemia).

Radon, released in massive quantities into the air and dissolved in surface waters, is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the U.S., according to the U.S. Surgeon General. Exploration drill holes act as chimneys to vent radon from deep underground into the air. Dispersal of radon gas into the atmosphere deposits solid radioactive particles hundreds of kilometres downwind from the drill or mine site.

Only 1 per cent of uranium ore mined is used up as fuel in a nuclear plant; 85 per cent of it ends up as radioactive mine tailings; another 14 per cent becomes nuclear reactor waste (assuming it is used in power plants. Canada's uranium mining industry was built on the U.S. nuclear weapons program).

The deadly legacy of uranium mines in Ontario, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories is millions of tonnes of mine tailings, which remain radioactive for thousands of years. The Serpent River system was contaminated with radium nearly 100 kilometres downstream from abandoned uranium mines and tailings at Elliot Lake in northern Ontario. Fibrosis of the lungs, cancer and other lung diseases have taken a huge toll on uranium miners.

Uranium exploration and mining is a dangerous business. No community, let alone a watershed that provides drinking water, should be subjected to such danger.

Being allowed to explore for uranium implies at least the potential for opening a mine should commercial quantities of uranium be found. No comfort can be taken in the environmental impact assessment process, which is designed not to prohibit development, but merely to put conditions on how it may proceed, and which provides no credible means for citizens to influence the outcome.

In 1985, the Nova Scotia government convened a commission of inquiry in response to public opposition to uranium exploration being undertaken by Shell. The commission held 44 public meetings and reviewed everything that was known about the effects of uranium mining on people and the environment. The government concluded that "it would be improper to permit exploration for uranium but withhold the right to mine what has been found." Thus a moratorium on uranium exploration was imposed, and it still stands today. British Columbia and Labrador have also banned uranium mining.

To allow uranium exploration in Moncton's drinking water source is to say that a uranium mine could possibly be approved there. This begs the question: Is there nothing in New Brunswick worth saving from exploitation? Is absolutely everything on the table?

Janice Harvey is a freelance writer, a long-time director of the Conservation Council of New Brunswick and a graduate student at UNB. She can be reached by e-mail at waweig@nbnet.nb.ca.

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