Uranium mine wastes are far more dangerous than the uranium which is removed. The wastes contain more than 85 percent of the initial radioactivity in the ore.

    There are now over 120 million tons of solid uranium mine waste in Canada. By 1990 there will be 100 million tons in Saskatchewan alone!

     This waste is usually identified by government and industry as a "low-level" radioactive hazard. But it is in fact a more significant source of radiation exposure to the public than radiation from all other parts of the nuclear industry. Furthermore there is no way of disposing of this radioactive waste. Only the processes of nature, over many thousands of years, can render this radioactivity harmless. All that can be hoped for is to find a safe method of storage of mine waste for those thousands of years.

    Obviously this is an overwhelming technical and political problem. And, for over 20 years, scientific bureaucrats have been trying to reassure the public that, if they don't now have an answer, we can trust them to come up with one soon.

The Saskatchewan Position

    In 1978, the Saskatchewan government's Cluff Lake Board of Inquiry concluded, in regard to reactor wastes:
There seems to be general agreement that to store these wastes in such a manner that future generations would be required to exercise continued surveillance and maintenance of the storage facilities would be completely unacceptable. It thus becomes necessary to seek disposal techniques that will ensure that the wastes are safely isolated for several hundred thousand years (emphasis added.)
It then proceeded to approve a "disposal" program, to contain wastes at the Cluff Lake Mine, for less than one hundred years!

What Other Provinces are Saying

    The Royal Commission on Electric Power Planning in Ontario recommended the expansion of uranium mining only upon demonstrated progress in solving the uranium tailings problem. The Royal Commission in British Columbia, which was terminated when that province declared a seven-year moratorium on uranium exploration and mining, heard a succession of expert witnesses unanimous in their opinion that the available technologies for radioactive tailings management are simply not capable of permanently storing the wastes. In May, 1980, the Newfoundland government denied per mission for the opening of a uranium mine in Labrador following a Board of Inquiry conclusion that there was no safe method for handling the mine wastes.

Uranium Mining and Radioactivity

    Uranium is mined by blasting or stripping ore from the ground. The mined ore is then taken to a uranium mill, where it is crushed and chemically processed to extract a very small portion of the ore as uranium (yellow cake). The remaining wastes, a mixture of liquids and solids, are placed in areas called tailings ponds and piles. But these wastes are far more dangerous than the uranium which has been removed because the by-products are more intensely radioactive and toxic than uranium itself. These by-products, which account for more than 85 percent of the initial radioactivity in the ore, all end up in the waste piles along with almost all of the heavy metals.

    Radiation occurs when a radioactive element decays by giving off radioactive particles, thereby reducing its own mass and becoming another element. (See chart on cover.) Each radioactive element has a different rate of decay, called its half-life: the time it takes for one-half of the original amount of material to decay to another element. It is generally considered that the period required to reduce the amount of the original material to a point where its danger could be tolerated by life would be ten times the half-life for that element. It can be seen from the chart that uranium undergoes a very long decay series until it becomes the stable, but toxic, element - lead. The period of time involved, when compared to the lifetime of a generation, is virtually forever.

    Radiation can be of several types. In uranium mine wastes the elements which decay by producing alpha radiation are of particular concern. Alpha radiation has a far greater potential to damage living tissue than other types of radiation. Because the tailings contain elements like Thorium 230 with a half life radioactive danger of 76,000 years, they are hazardous virtually forever.

"On the issue of radioactive waste disposal we have simply had to make a leap of faith and assume that a satisfactory means of disposal will shortly be found" SASKATCHEWAN PREMIER ALLAN BLAKENEY (emphasis added)

Radon Gas - A Particular Hazard

    Radon gas, a prime source of alpha radiation, is continuously emitted from tailings piles. When radon gas is produced in an undisturbed ore body, it is relatively harmless since moist of it disintegrates long before it can escape from the rock formation in which it is trapped. However, the mining and milling process grinds the ore to the consistency of sand from which the radioactive dust and radon gas can easily spread into the environment. It is the decay products of radon gas which are responsible for many fatal lung cancers in uranium miners.

    Radon gas released during mining, milling and from tailings can travel hundreds of miles at low concentrations. The wastes therefore become a source of radioactive contamination much more severe than the unmined ore body. These tailings retain enough radiation to double the risk of cancer for people living in the immediate area. This is one reason why the United States government is now referring to the area in the immediate vicinity of a uranium mine as a "national  sacrifice area".

Radioactivity and the Environment

    When radioactive substances are dispersed into the environment and taken in by plants and animals,  they become more concentrated as they move through the food chain. Even at extremely low levels of exposure, these substances have the potential to alter genetic (hereditary) and cellular composition of biological organisms. In other words, there is no radiation exposure level which is safe. Even a small amount of radioactive contamination has the potential to harm not only exposed plants and animals (including people) but also future offspring.

    The effects of radiation are highly variable within specific organisms in particular environment and at different times. Due to these complexities, the setting of standards to safely regulate uranium mining and milling can only be done with great uncertainty and great risk of extensive environmental deterioration. Present standards, based on the assumption that a safe level for radiation exists, have irreversibly allowed the contamination of our earth. In northern Saskatchewan, studies have found that fish accumulate radio nuclides even in waters of very low concentration as found in areas of uranium exploration or naturally occurring uranium. Fish in the Tailings Creek downstream from Eldorado Nuclear's Beaverlodge Lake operation show contamination levels exceeding the present "standards" for human consumption, assuming whole fish constituted a large proportion of protein intake. Many of the fish also showed eye deformities.

Only the processes of nature, over many thousands of years, can render radioactivity harmless.

    Everywhere uranium mining, milling and refining has occurred, extensive environmental contamination has resulted. Uranium mining and milling wastes have been indiscriminately used as fill material leaving roads, schools, homes and buildings radioactive in Uranium City, Saskatchewan and Port Hope, Ontario, which have required extensive and expensive clean-up measures. No insurance company in Canada will insure property owners against loss or damage caused by radioactive contamination.

     In the Elliot Lake- area of Ontario, uranium tailings have contaminated the entire, Serpent River system (which includes about 18 lakes) to such an extent that the water is not fit for human use. There are very few fish left in the entire 55-mile stretch downstream from the mining operations. The costs of removal and storage of the over 100 million tons of tailings in the Elliot Lake area have been estimated to be as much as $18 billion.

     Present technologies are unable to permanently contain the wastes. The largest accident to date occurred in July, 1979, at a newly licensed - "state of the art" uranium operation in New Mexico, contaminating approximately 250 acres of land and 80 miles of river. The accident occurred as a result of faults in design, construction and operation and points out that licensing and surveillance of even the newest uranium waste storage facilities are not adequate. Accidents have also occurred at mines in the Northern Territory of Australia, Colorado, Ontario and in northern Saskatchewan.

There Is No Safe Technology

    Present storage technologies are incapable of preventing the eventual spread of radioactivity and toxic substances into the environment. They would all require maintenance and surveillance in perpetuity. The basis of these technologies must therefore be seen as nothing more than economic expedience.

    Uranium mining and milling wastes are one of the many problems which plague the nuclear industry (see other RGNNS pamphlets). It is doubtful a satisfactory solution to the waste problem will ever be found. Therefore, the creation of new wastes in northern Saskatchewan in addition to those already accumulated increases the magnitude of the problem and only risks additional cancers and genetic damage. Placing an even greater burden upon generations to come for the sake of short term economic benefits to select members of this generation is immoral and should be stopped.

Radioactive Decay Series of Uranium-238

These element releases energy in the form of different types of radiation as they decay to reach stability. Times are "half lives" - the time in which one-half of the element transforms to the next element. Because the tailings contain elements like Thorium 230 with a half life radioactive danger of 76,000 years, they are hazardous virtually forever.

Radiation Type              Element (Half-Life)

                                    Uranium-238 (4 Billion years)
 Alpha < -                               V
                                    Thorium-234 (24 days)
Beta and Gamma  < -               V
                                    Protactinium-234 (1 minute)
Beta and  Gamma <-                   V
                                   Uranium-234 (245,000 years)
Alpha and Gamma <-                  V
                                   Thorium-230 (76,000 years)
Alpha and Gamma <-                  V
                                    Radium-226 (1600 years)
Alpha and Gamma <-                  V
                                    Radon-222 (4 days)
Alpha <-                                    V
                                    Polonium-218 (3 minutes)
Alpha <-                                    V
                                    Lead-214 (27 minutes)
Beta and Gamma <-                    V
                                    Bismuth-214 (20 minutes)
Beta and Gamma <-                   V
                                    Polonium-214 (less than a second)
Alpha <-                                   V
                                    Lead-210 (22 years)
Beta and Gamma <-                    V
                                    Bismuth-210  (5 days)
Beta and Gamma <-                    V
                                    Polonium-210 (138 days)
Alpha <-                                    V
                                    Lead-206  (Stable)
 

This was the fifth in a series of pamphlets produced by the research committee of the Regina Group for a Non-Nuclear Society. This pamphlet was written and published in 1981 by Ken MacTaggart, with assistance from Miles Goldstick and Bill Harding, and designed by Ross Bell.