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Cover-up of uranium spill seen

More details are emerging daily about
the operations of the Key Lake Mining

_ Company in northern Saskatchewan,

where a massive spill of radioactive
water recently is only the most dramatic
of a long line of accidents endangering

workers and the environment. But a

former engineer at the site has told the
Tribune that the full truth may be sup-
pressed by company and government of-
ficials.

Described as the largest and richest
Open-pit uranium mine in the world, Key
Lake opened in October 1983. Con-
troversy surrounded a 1980 board of in-
quiry hearing into guidelines for the
mine’s operations. At that time, it was
revealed that the Key Lake Mining
Company (KLMC) had illegally drained
lakes in the area preparatory to actual
mining. But the then Blakeney (New
Democratic Party) government down-
played such violations by KLMC, which
is 50 percent owned by the Sas-
katchewan Mineral Development Corp.,
a provincial crown corporation: 25 per-
cent by Eldor Resources, a subsidiary of

federally-owned Eldorado Nuclear -

(which shut down Uranium City in 1982);
and 25 percent by the West German con-
cern *‘Uranerz’’.

The January 5 spill covered an area
some 500 meters (about 550 yards)
Square with water contaminated by
radium to 46 times the ‘‘safe’’ Sas-
katchewan standard. The water soon

froze, but then began melting under- -

neath. Dave Clark, head of the waste
Management division of the Sas-
katchewan Envitonment Department,
admitted the “possibility” that the water
could melt the frozen muskeg, seep

_ through the ground, and enter lakes and

rivers forming the Churchill River sys-
tem.

That would result in radium particles
entering the food chain, compounding
damage to the northern environment al-
ready caused by the uranium industry.

Attempt to Minimize
The spill was too large to be hushed
up, unlike at least seven smaller-scale
accidents at the site in recent months,
mainly inside the mill where ore is pro-
cessed. But KILMC and _ provincial

Environment Minister Neal Hardy are —

trying to minimize the potential hazards
and blame ‘‘human error’ for the
accident.

It occurred when the smaller of two
reservoirs was over-filled, causing a dike
to burst. Normally, water in the reser-
Volrs is continually circulated for use in
the mine and the mill, with more water
being used up than replaced. Company
spokespersons say less water was re-
quired in the mill during the Christmas
Period, and that workers left a pump
running too long.

This explanation leaves more un-
answered questions. The head of the
1980 inquiry, Bob Mitchell, said the spill
\ “inconceivable’’” based on the
information provided by the company at
the hearing.

Safeguards Ignored

Yet uranium mines in Saskatchewan ~

have a long history of failing to live up to
agreements on design specifications and
health and safety provisions. For exam-
ple, at the Cluff Lake mine, management
promised top-notch safety precautions,

such as heavy equipment fitted with en-

closed cabs and air filters. In fact, says

Dave Weir of the Regina Group for a

Non-Nuclear Society, workers received

POLLUTION
rn

no such special protection, necessary to
safeguard them from carcinogenic radon
gas which escapes from uranium ore.
Speaking to the Tribune, an engineer
‘who worked at the Key Lake project for
a considerable time, said the failure of
KLMC to live up to design specifications
may well be the real cause of the acci-
dents. He pointed out that the company
had agreed to install maximum level indi-
cators to warn of possible overfilling of
the reservoirs, but failed to do so.
Minimum level indicators, necessary to
ensure continual operations, were in-

- stalled. Environment Minister Hardy has

told the media he ‘‘just doesn’t know’’
why the proper equipment wasn’t in
place.

As well, according to the engineer,
plans called for a sump pump and pipe-
line beside the reservoirs, to drain any
overflows to the tailings pond some dis-
tance away. Reports make no mention of
this sump, leading him to believe it was
never installed. Similar cutbacks in the
original design could account for other
accidents as well, he said, but he fears

this basic truth may be covered up during -

investigations.

Four investigations began in the
aftermath of Jan. 5, but all are somehow
connected with the industry itself. Three
are being carried out by the environment
department, the Atomic Energy Board of
Canada, and KLMC itself, and the fourth
by a provincially chosen consultant.

Control Staff Cut

Opposition leader Alan Blakeney has
attacked the Tory government, pointing
out that the environment department’s
budget was slashed from $10. 1-million in
1982-83 to $9-million in 1983-84, and the
staff from 151 to 130. The Tories have
denied Blakeney’s report that Mines
Pollution Control staff was cut from
twelve to seven. But they have been
forced to admit that a six-person
monitoring committee, which KLMC
and the Department of Northern. Sas-
katchewan agreed would meet on site
every three months, did not meet at all
last year. .

Public concern about the mining,
which has grown steadily, has been fuel-
led by the major accident. One key issue
being raised is the uranium industry’s
link to the arms race. Anti-nuclear ac-
tivists have found compelling evidence
that ‘‘uranium from Saskatchewan
mines finds its way into nuclear arms’’,
as Graham Simpson of the Inter-Church
Uranium Committee told a news con-
ference in Saskatoon Nov. 24.

Calling for the shutdown of the mines

and alternative employment for norther-

ners, a Regina Coalition for Peace and
Disarmament statement says: ‘‘It is im-
moral that the health and safety of Sas-
katchewan people, today and for genera-
tions to come, is being risked in order to
increase the nuclear arsenals of the
world.”
Want Alternative Jobs

Addressing the effects of the Key
Lake spill, staff rep Terry Stevens of the
United Steelworkers union, who rep-
resent KLMC employees, called the ac-
cident a ‘‘catastrophe’’, and demanded
an occupational health and safety inquiry
through the department of labor.

At the Rabbit Lake mine now under
construction, workers face appalling
conditions, according to union organiz-
ers. Lacking union protection, the work-
ers have even fewer safeguards than at
Key Lake. Provincial and corporate of-
ficials are trying to keep the lid on the
situation. 3

But the spill has loosened the lid on
major accidents at other mines. For the
first time, most Saskatchewan residents
have heard that in 1983, 200 of the 3,000
containers holding highly radioactive
radium-226 and other heavy metals had
cracked and were leaking at the Cluff
Lake mine. Last April 22, five containers
overturned, spilling more than 1.8 tonnes
(two tons) of radioactive sludge.

Natives in Squeeze
Native people in the north have found
themselves caught in this situation.
Faced with unemployment over 75 per-
cent, and lacking meaningful control to

develop the north as they wish, they _

From

Regina
——
Kimball
Cariou

found for and won an affirmative action
clause at Key Lake. Many preferred to
risk working in questionable conditions
over continued poverty for themselves
and their families. But KLMC has con-
sistently failed to meet the 50 percent
Native quota, an illegality to which the
Tories have turned a blind eye. At Key
Lake and other mines, management re-
sists the promotion and upgrading of
skills of Native workers.

Many people are coming to the con-
clusion that northern Saskatchewan,
with its mineral wealth and largely Indian
and Métis population, is being turned
into a sort of ‘‘national sacrifice area’’, as
the areas surrounding U.S. uranium
mines are termed. The beneficiaries are
west European companies and Canadian
crown corporations and monopolies, and
the long-term losers are the working
people of Saskatchewan.

The New Democratic Party, which as
the CCF (Co-operative Commonwealth
Federation) initiated uranium mining and
allowed the federal government to take
over some 7,000 square kilometers (2,700
sq. miles) of northern Saskatchewan land
for the Primrose Air Weapons Range,
voted three-to-one at its November 1983
convention to reverse its position and
call for a phase-out of uranium mining.

By doing so, it aligned itself with
forces including major unions and
churches, peace and environmental
groups, the National Farmers Union,
and others who oppose mining.

A growing aspect of this movement is
the recognition of the demands by Native
people and other northern residents for
self-determination and jobs. It is becom-
ing more widely recognized that the
shutdown of the uranium industry must

~be combined with active solidarity with
northerners fighting for alternative paths
for their future. -

Such solidarity could pose political
problems for Premier Devine’s Tories.
Already, government and industry lead-
ers are lashing out at the press and at
opponents of uranium mining, as the up-
roar refuses to die down. A week after
the spill, one thing seems certain: a very
large can of worms has been opened, and
it won’t be shut easily.

Labor demands inquiry

REGINA — The Saskatchewan
Federation of Labor added its voice
Jan. 16, to the rapidly growing number
of people demanding an independent
public inquiry into the situation at Key
Lake Mining Corporation.

“*Since taking power the Devine
government has encouraged cutting
corners to ensure the rapid develop-+
ment of the mill operation at Key
Lake, flying in the face of environ-
mental concerns and worker safety’,
SFL vice-president Bill Hyde, said in
a press release.

‘The government has deliberately
kept information from Saskatchewan
citizens about other spills, not making

them public until they were too big to
hide.

‘This careless attitude toward our
natural resources, our envrionment
and Saskatchewan workers, poses a
serious question about how the
government is managing this indus-
try’, Hyde stated. :

‘The only way to resolve public
mistrust and get to the bottom of this

‘mess is for a full independent public

inquiry involving representatives of
the union representing employees at

. Key Lake, members of the general

public, Native northerners and en-
vironmental experts from outside the
government’’, he concluded.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE, JANUARY 25, 1984 e 5