How about a few Uranium Spills??

[Oscar]

How about a few Uranium Spills??

- - - -

Cleanup Of Uranium Contaminated Soils - 2001-2004 (Map)

http://www.mmm.ca/projects/
Prodetail.aspx?ptitle=Cleanup Of Uranium Contaminated Soils

MMM was retained by the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management Office of Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. to provide Project Management services during the cleanup of some 12,000 m3 of uranium contaminated soils at a site in Fort McMurray, Alberta. The property had become contaminated as a result of its use as a staging and barge-to-rail transfer point during the shipment of uranium ore and ore concentrates from Port Radium, NWT to Port Hope, Ontario for refining. Ore shipment occurred from the 1930s to the 1960s and resulted in contamination of a number of locations along the route.
The affected site is located on the bank of the Clearwater River. The project involved the planning, design, and implementation of the physical works required to excavate the contaminated soil, transfer it to an existing long-term management facility, expand the management facility as necessary to accommodate the additional inventory, and restore and reinstate both affected work sites. Important elements in the planning and design activities were public consultation in the community and an environmental assessment of the physical works to identify the likely environmental effects of the project.
As Project Manager, MMM was responsible for overall co-ordination of the project, including ensuring that it met the goals and objectives, was technically sound, and completed on time and within budget. This required close consultation with a local Working Group established to assist in project planning, regulatory agencies including the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and Natural Resources Canada, the local municipality, and the owner of the site, CN Rail. MMM also provided the technical review of all design and planning materials developed for the project.
The assignment was initiated in 2001 and remedial activities carried out during 2002-2003. The project was completed and closure documentation assembled in early 2004.
- - - - -
MMM Group - Overview
http://www.mmm.ca/aboutus/overview.htm
The founding corporation of MMM Group Limited was established in 1952 and incorporated in 1957 as Marshall Macklin Monaghan Limited. Renamed MMM Group in 2007, the firm’s head office is in Thornhill, Ontario. A truly Canadian company, MMM Group has offices in Nova Scotia, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia. In addition, through its subsidiaries and affiliates, MMM has more than 25 offices in the USA, U.K., Australia, New Zealand and the Caribbean. Together these offices provide responsive and innovative consulting engineering, planning, project management, environmental management, landscape design, surveying and commissioning services to private sector owners, architects, contractors, investors and government clients across Canada and internationally.
MORE: http://www.mmm.ca/aboutus/overview.htm

=======

Four uranium spills you may not have heard about

http://this.org/magazine/2009/05/27/fou ... um-spills/

By Elaisha Stokes
May 27, 2009: Energy, Environment, First Nations, Health, May-June 2009
Proponents argue that nuclear power is greener since it produces lower carbon emissions. But mining and refining the uranium that fuels reactors produces many toxic byproducts, including arsenic, thorium-230, and radioactive waste. Uranium is scarce too, which means that to produce one kilogram of uranium, you have to dig up and process one tonne of uranium ore, and more than 99 percent of that material ends up as radioactive waste. These “tailings” often end up in man-made ponds — but seldom stay there.
Unlike oil spills, which produce sensational images of oil-covered ducks, uranium tailings spills are under-reported and quietly insidious. Here are some of the stories you might have missed:

Elliott Lake, Canada
mine allowed uranium tailings to spill into McCabe Lake and contaminate the water source.
Contamination: Two million litres of tailings entered McCabe Lake.
Effects: Tailing spills had devastated 90 kilometres of the Serpent River by the late 1970s. The Serpent River First Nations indigenous territory is thoroughly contaminated with radioactive waste.
Punishment or resolution: The Atomic Energy Control Board of Canada charged Rio Algom with one count of failure to provide proper training for employees, and one count of failure to prevent a spill. The mine has been decommissioned.

MORE SPILLS: http://this.org/magazine/2009/05/27/fou ... um-spills/

=====================

Dam failure of decantation pond at Comurhex uranium conversion plant, Malvési (Aude, France) (Photos)

http://www.wise-uranium.org/mdafma.html

(last updated 26 Jun 2006)
On March 20, 2004, a dam failure at a decantation and evaporation pond of the Malvési conversion plant released approx. 30,000 cubic metres of liquid and slurries. The liquid contained high concentrations of nitrate and led to elevated nitrate concentrations of up to 170 mg/L in the canal of Tauran for several weeks, while uranium concentrations remained unchanged. The dam failure is believed to be caused by an "abnormal presence of water" due to heavy rain in summer 2003.

MORE: http://www.wise-uranium.org/mdafma.html