Uranium Refinery - UCC Proposal - 2007

[Oscar]

Annual Meeting of the Sask. Conference of the United Church, Lumsden, SK - May 31 – June 2, 2007 -

Proposal No. 8 - CARRIED – 350 Delegates – June 2, 2007
Tital: Uranium Refinery
Origin: Saskatchewan Division of Mission
Financial Implications: $0.00

WHEREAS we are called to be good stewards of God’s creation; and

WHEREAS, Premier Calvert, the Dept. of Industry and Resources, Areva Resources of Canada, and the Saskatoon Star Phoenix, are proposing the construction of a uranium refinery in northern Saskatchewan (1); and

WHEREAS, the hazards of a refinery which caused the people of Warman and district to reject it in the 1970’s have not disappeared; and

WHEREAS, the many questions about safety and pollution by the people of Port Hope, Ontario, through their organization of “Families Against Radioactive Exposure” or FARE, caused Cameco to withdraw its proposals for an expansion (2); and

WHEREAS, the citizens of Port Hope, Ontario have discovered that 60 kilograms a year of fine uranium dust is dispersed in their area, and that 9.3 tonnes of ammonia, 113 tonnes of nitrous oxide and 507 kilograms of fluoride are released into the air which causes many negative health conditions (3); and

WHEREAS, 3.5 million cubic meters of low-level radioactive waste has been deposited in the soil around Port Hope, Ontario as a result of many years of refining (4); and

WHEREAS, large quantities of hydrofluoric acid are used to create the uranium hexafluoride (UF6), and whose toxic fumes cause problems like asthma, and whose chlorofluorocarbon emissions (CFCs) destroy the ozone layer at several 1000 times that of carbon dioxide (CO2) (5); and

WHEREAS, the containment ponds of an Areva refinery in Malvesi, France, holding large amounts of acid, ruptured and flooded over the countryside after a heavy downpour of rain, spreading thorium-234, nuclide americium-241, and huge amounts of liquid nitrates (6); and

WHEREAS, there is concern about heavy acids in the region of the Saskatchewan River systems, and in the underground waters of the province, and more radioactive wastes in the soil; and

WHEREAS, there is concern about additional radon radiation for the workers or people of our region (7).

THEREFORE BE IT PROPOSED that Saskatchewan Conference of the United Church of Canada urge the Government of Saskatchewan and Areva Resources to abandon all plans for a uranium refinery in Saskatchwean.

References for Resolution on Uranium Refinery

1) Saskatoon Star Phoenix, Feb. 6/07 p. A1; also Feb. 9/07, p. C7, also Jan. 6/07; also June 22/06, p. C7; also June 23/06, p. C12. See also “Calvert seeking uranium refinery.” The Globe and Mail, June 23, 2006

2) Newsletter Article by FARE (Families Against Radiation Exposure), January, 2005. Available at: http://www.ph-fare.com/dataminder/rl_ar ... dia/86.pdf
See also “Unresolved Concerns of the People of Port Hope” prepared by FARE and Port Hope Community Health Concerns at the request of Paul Macklin, MP.

3) “Port Hope’s Successful Resistance to Enriched Uranium Refinery”, Monday, May 22, 2006.
Audiotape interview with John Miller, chairperson of FARE, available at: http://www.makingthelinksradio.ca/index ... 2&Itemid=2

4) Ibid,

5) Interview by Gregory Dicum with Dr. Helen Caldicott, “No Nukes is Good Nukes”, May 3, 2005, p.2.
Available at http://www.grist.org/news/maindish/2005 ... caldicott/

6) Pictures and text available at: www.wise-uranium.org/mdafma.htm1
See also: www.wise-uranium.org/epfr.htm1#COMCONVMA

7) Workers at the Key Lake Mine are still being exposed to 3 to 6 millisieverts of radiation, and two workers were exposed to greater than 1 millisievert in one week. The regular radiation of uranium miners continues, although the BEIR VII Report (Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation – National Academy of Science) stated that there was no level of radiation that is safe.
See also the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission Document (CNSC) CMD-07-H5-p.15, Jan. 25, 2007 (Commission Member Document)