A URANIUM REFINERY FOR SASKATCHEWAN Our Predicament Premier

A URANIUM REFINERY FOR SASKATCHEWAN?

Our Predicament • Premier Calvert and Hon. Eric Cline have succumbed to the idea of “value added” for our uranium. They are thinking of the value -added jobs, wages, business, industry, money, and royalties. • They do not care about the “value-added” radiation for the workers and the people, for the chemicals which damage the health of people and despoil the environment.

What’s Wrong With Going Nuclear? • The problems have not gone away which caused the citizens of Warman and district to reject a refinery back in the 1970’s.

Developments • Cameco proposed an extension of its refinery in Port Hope. The citizens raised so many questions that the proposed plans were withdrawn.

Port Hope Conversion Facility • • • Only uranium conversion facility in Canada and one of four in the western world Only producer of uranium dioxide (UO 2) for Canadian-made Candu reactors 2, 800 tonnes per year of UO 2 Produces uranium hexafluoride (UF 6) shipped to USA for enrichment 12, 500 tonnes per year The only uranium conversion facility which uses a wet process to make uranium tetrafluoride (UF 4) from UO 2–thereby reducing hydrogen fluoride (HF) consumption. UF 4 is used to manufacture depleted uranium metal which is used in radioactive ammunition

Learning from the Past • We need to learn from the experiences and discoveries of the citizens of Port Hope about the realities of a uranium refinery or conversion facility.

Port Hope Conversion Facility • A conversion facility is a huge operation to be placed in any of our communities.

A Mammoth Structure

Gargantuan Water Requirement • A refinery uses tremendous amounts of water. Cameco is installing a new water system for its Port Hope conversion facility, consisting of an intake pipe one metre in diameter, extending 880 metres out into Lake Ontario, with a capacity for pumping 33, 000 cubic metres per day! Is this one of the reasons for a proposal for a dam at North Battleford on the North Saskatchewan River?

• Some 3. 5 million cubic metres of low level radioactive waste have been deposited in the soil around Port Hope over many years, for which the authorities are now considering potential ways to dispose of it. “One more ounce of additional contamination added to the 3. 5 million cubic metres of contaminated soil surrounding us would be an ounce too much. ” - Farley Mowat, Member of FARE (Families Against Radiation Exposure)

Yellowcake and Fuel Pellets Yellowcake Is in turn produced into Fuel Pellets

• Large amounts of chemicals are used in the processing of uranium yellowcake to produce enriched uranium. These heavy acids used are a danger to the underground waters of the region around a refinery.

Dangerous Byproducts • The citizens of Port Hope discovered these byproducts of refining in their area: v 60 kilograms a year of fine uranium dust dispersed in the air v 9. 3 tonnes of ammonia used in the process v 113 tonnes of nitrous oxide released v 507 kilograms of fluoride released into the air, causing negative health conditions

A Citizen’s Report 1. We are told it is safe to live here. 2. We are told the 60 kilograms of Uranium emissions in 2003 were “absorbed”. 3. We are told the 1 kilogram of Uranium in water emissions is very small. 4. We are told the Ammonia in air released in the centre of our historic town and waterfront, all 9. 3 tonnes is not very harmful. 5. We are told the Nitrous Oxide released into the air, 113 tonnes, is within MOE standards. 6. We are told the Fluoride released into the air totals 507 kilograms. – Alexandra Mc. Kee-Bennett, a nurse and resident of Port Hope, Ontario, September 28, 2004 presentation on to the Port Hope City Council http: //www. icucec. org/Hope. Brief. pd

Hazards of the Acids • In the production of hexafluoride (UF 6), large quantities of hydrochloric acid are used which can cause health problems such as asthma. • Plus, the chlorofluorocarbon emissions (CFCs) destroy the ozone layer at several thousand times that of carbon dioxide.

Byproduct of the Conversion Process “Cameco's license permits them to produce up to 2, 000 tonnes of depleted uranium a year in the metals facility. Cameco will not reveal who are their customers. ” F. A. R. E

Malvesi, France • In Malvesi, France, a heavy downpour of rain caused some containment ponds holding large amounts of acid to rupture and to flow across the countryside, spreading thorium-234, nuclide americum 241 and large amounts of liquid nitrates.

Before the Storm

The Aftermath

SGI or Mobile Home Policy • It states that it “does not cover damage caused by a nuclear incident as defined in the Nuclear Liability Act. Nor do we cover nuclear explosion or contamination by radioactive material. ” • SGI CANADA Policy Booklet, 1168 HM -16 01/2006, Part 1, (m), p. 16

Radiation Damage • Uranium mines and mill workers are still being exposed to radiation by alpha particles. • If one of the highly charged particles hits the delicate interior lung tissue of a worker it can damage the chromosomes in the cells. • Some 15 -20 years later this damage may turn cancerous. • If a spontaneous, random particle hits the chromosomes, the damage is done. • It is not a matter of averaging the radiation doses to which the miners/workers are exposed.

New Study Regarding Radiation • In living lung tissue, if one of the cells adjacent to the particle is damaged in a certain way, it can become a cancer cell later on, spreading rapidly through the lung, causing almost certain death.

Alpha Rays From a Radioactive Particle in a Lung Tissue • The black star shows the tracks made over a 48 hour period by alpha rays emitted from a radioactive particle of plutonium lodged in the lung tissue of an ape (the particle itself is invisible). • photo by Robert Del Tredici from his book entitled At Work In The Fields Of The Bomb (Harper and Row, 1987)

Inadequacy of Dosimeters • The dosimeters, with their sensitive film, used to detect radiation of workers, measure the external bombardment of the skin. • However, they do not measure the number of alpha particles that penetrate the internal tissues of the lungs.

We can ignore the dangers of radiation but the dangers of radiation will not ignore us.

Radiation Risk • Recent findings of the 40 scientists who prepared the Report of the European Commission on Radiation Risk (2003), found that the present standards for radiation risk are deficient and dated, because they were formulated before DNA was discovered. • This Report discovered that low-dose alpha radiation is more dangerous than high doses (the Petkau Response). • The BEIR VII Report (Biological Effects of Internal Radiation) declared in 2005, that there are no safe levels of radiation.

The Present Situation • Mr. Donald Ching, current President of Areva (Cogema), has said at public meetings around the province that “Areva would not build a conversion facility in any jurisdiction where it was not wanted. ” • We need to give him and the Premier a clear message now.

MAKE SASK AND THE WORLD STOP URANIUM MINING-NO REFINING-NO CONVERSION-NO REACTOR-NO REPROCESSINGNO NUCLEAR WEAPONS-NO SPENT FUEL STORAGE

Thanks For Watching • Let the Premier and your MLA know about your concerns for this project. • “Government does not change until the people demand it. ” (Commentary in the recent movie, An Inconvenient Truth, by Al Gore). Prepared by Bill Adamson, Saskatoon.