BAKER LAKE/KIVALLIQ
The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) held a series of public information sessions in the Kivalliq communities of Coral Harbour, Baker Lake, Chesterfield Inlet and Rankin Inlet this past week.

Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) uranium mines and mills inspector Sarah Eaton makes a point to Bert Dean and Jeff Tulugak, from left, during a CNSC information session in Rankin Inlet this past week. - Darrell Greer/NNSL photo

The focus of the sessions was on Areva Resources Canada's Kiggavik project, and the company's plans to construct four openpit and one underground mine and a milling facility on the land about 80 km west of Baker Lake.

The commission licences uranium mines in Canada, and monitors and conducts compliance reviews of those facilities.

The commission personnel joined representatives from the Northern Projects Management Office in delivering the sessions on regulating uranium mines and mills in Canada.

The Nunavut Impact Review Board (NIRB) will be holding its final hearings for its environmental assessment on the Kiggavik project this coming month.

Sarah Eaton, an inspector with the commission's uranium mines and mills division, said the mandate of the safety commission is to regulate uranium mines and mills, to protect people and the environment, and to ensure Canada's commitment to the peaceful use of nuclear energy is respected.

She said a large crowd was on hand in Baker Lake, and some great discussions were held.

"We were certainly on a high point in Baker," said Eaton.

"As the regulatory body, our role is not to promote nuclear power or mining.

"It's to ensure if any of it's done, it's done safely."

Eaton said in connection to the board's review on Kiggavik, the commission's role is one of providing technical expertise on uranium mining.

She said the commission is mainly, at this time, waiting to see the results of the board's environmental assessment.

"We went to Coral Harbour and did a session in the school, talking about career opportunities that come from working for a regulator.

"We also talked about what is radiation, kind of uranium mining 101, and what does it look like before doing another session at the hamlet.

"We had two really great sessions with the people of Baker Lake, talking about uranium mining in Canada, the regulation of uranium mining and uranium mining around the world.

"There were very few questions related to a Fukushima-type accident but there was discussion on accident scenarios that could happen, such as what if yellowcake fell into a river or if the water produced by the water-treatment plant didn't have very good quality, what kind of impact would that have?"

Eaton said all that will be done through the environmental assessment.

She said she spends most of her time looking at uranium mines and mill facilities in northern Saskatchewan, and talked to the Baker Lake groups about those experiences, as well.

"We have technical experts who can talk about those accident scenarios and how they're reviewed in the environmental assessment, and what those implications are.

"The other thing we talked a lot about is if uranium mining is approved by the NIRB and through our CNSC licensing process, it would become the first of its kind in the territory.

"We discussed a lot of the lessons we learned from working in northern Saskatchewan, which has some similarities in remote location, etc.

"Uranium mining has been occurring in Canada for a number of years and we've been regulating it, so we have a lot of expertise relating to uranium-mining activities."

Eaton said uranium ore is rock that contains higher concentrations of uranium.

She said that rock is processed both physically, by crushing and grinding it, and chemically by adding a number of chemical agents.

"Uranium is extracted from the rock and the final product is called yellowcake.

"In Canada, that product is produced in three facilities in northern Saskatchewan.

"We produce about 15 per cent of the world's uranium, and it's all used for peaceful purposes.

"The uranium is shipped from Saskatchewan by rail and road networks.

"It either goes to the West Coast to be shipped to other processing facilities or it goes to the U.S.A., one of a number of processing facilities in Ontario, or on to Europe."

Eaton said what the commission is really trying to get people to understand, it that the review board's process is the one currently taking place.

She said board will make the decision on the environmental assessment.

"If that decision is positive, and Areva decides to go forward with a development decision, then there's a whole other process (the CNSC licensing process), which is a detailed technical review of detailed documents on how the facility will be constructed.

"We assess that, and, at the end of the day, our commission will make an independent decision on whether a licence is issued."

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