The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) has lead responsibility for regulating activities at both the conversion facility and Cameco Fuel Manufacturing.  The CNSC monitors Cameco's activities to ensure the company is in compliance with health and safety as well as certain environmental standards.  Both facilities provide a quarterly compliance report to the CNSC staff and appear before the commission for licensing.  For more information go to the CNSC's website.

In addition, Transport Canada regulates the transportation of all hazardous materials and the Ontario government's Ministry of Environment plays a role in monitoring environmental impacts through Municipal Industrial Strategy for Abatement audits and Selected Targets for Air Compliance. 

Cameco also complies with international standards. The Port Hope conversion facility is registered under the ISO 14001 program, an internationally recognized standard for environmental management systems which requires the development of a strategy to factor environmental considerations into all levels of the decision-making process.

The facility produces two primary products:  uranium dioxide (UO₂) and uranium hexafluoride (UF₆).  UO₂ is the primary uranium component used in the fuel for the Canadian-designed Candu reactor.  UF₆ is an intermediate product that undergoes further processing outside of Canada before being converted into fuel for light water nuclear reactors around the world.  Approximately 80% of our licensed production capacity is for UF₆ and approximately 20% is for UO₂. The facility is also licensed to handle limited quantities of uranium as depleted or natural uranium metal and alloys.

Working together with Port Hope residents to ensure that we all have a common understanding of the impact of Cameco's operations in Port Hope is essential to building and maintaining trust in the community.  The ongoing community liaison forums are vehicles through which Cameco shares information and seeks input from the community. The forums are open to participation by all members of the public and deal with issues that relate to Cameco's relationship with Port Hope and its residents.  Issues including health and safety, the environment, corporate social responsibility and the impact of Cameco in the local economy are all items that have been addressed.  Some items will be dealt with easily, others will take longer to resolve.  Cameco is committed to working with the entire community, through the ongoing community liaison forum process, to address any issues that have or may arise in the future. More

More on how Cameco contributes to the community

During the 1930s to the 1950s, control of contaminated building materials and soils was less stringent than required under the standards applied today.  As a result, Port Hope has a legacy of low-level radioactive waste.  The federal government has accepted responsibility for this legacy issue and has committed to addressing the situation through the Port Hope Area Initiative (PHAI).

While the PHAI progresses, Cameco has remained committed to working with the community, through the community liaison forum process, to review the health studies that have been conducted to date and to facilitate a process whereby experts can help the community decide whether further health studies are warranted.  It is known that over the last 20 years or so, there have been at least 10 health studies done that are either specific to the Port Hope area or included Port Hope as part of a larger research effort.  Specifically, because of community interest in the impact of historic and current nuclear operations in Port Hope, the CNSC engaged Health Canada to conduct studies into cancer incidence and cancer mortality rates in the community.  The results from Health Canada's study "Cancer Incidence in Port Hope:  1971 - 1996" showed that "compared to cancer incidence in the general population of Ontario, there was no overall evidence for an increased elevation of cancer in Port Hope."  A second Health Canada report, "Cancer and General Mortality in Port Hope:  1956 - 1997" found that "overall cancer mortality rates in the town of Port Hope are comparable to rates throughout the Province of Ontario."

Our employees in Port Hope are tested regularly for uranium intake and the results are reported to both the individuals and responsible regulatory agencies. Test results are consistently below regulatory limits, which are based on the international scientific consensus on what is safe. Cameco is committed to ensuring that our safety practices and health and environmental monitoring programs are effective in protecting our employees.

Our emissions meet all regulatory standards set by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and/or Ontario's Ministry of Environment. In most cases, our emissions are a small fraction of the allowable limits. These emission standards are based on the international scientific consensus on what is safe. We are committed to ensuring that our safety practices and health and environmental monitoring programs are effective in protecting our employees and the people of Port Hope.

Cameco is committed to continual improvement in its environmental performance and this includes reducing emissions.  Most emissions from the Port Hope conversion facility have been greatly reduced in recent years.  Uranium and fluoride emissions from the UF₆ stack have been reduced by over 50% since 1998.  Emissions from the UO₂ plant have also been significantly reduced since 1999, with uranium down by over 60%.

The facility has been designed and engineered to keep the public and employees safe through multiple containment systems and other environmental protection technology. It should be noted that the mandate of the nuclear industry's regulator, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, includes consideration of safety of facilities and, as evidenced by its licensing of the conversion facility, the commission is satisfied with Cameco's containment systems and protection measures.

Cameco is committed to demonstrating continual improvement in its environmental performance. Both Cameco and government regulators closely monitor emissions from the facility, which at present include uranium, fluorides, nitrates and ammonia. With respect to oversight, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and/or Ontario's Ministry of the Environment regulate all emissions from the Port Hope conversion facility. All emissions are in compliance with regulatory limits and most are consistently well below those limits, with most in the vicinity of 10% of the allowable limit. In addition to its regulators, Cameco presents a summary of emissions to the Port Hope municipal council on a quarterly basis. Copies of the quarterly report are also available in the environment section of this website.

An economic impact study (PDF 248 KB) shows direct and indirect spending in Port Hope by Cameco's uranium conversion facility and Cameco Fuel Manufacturing totalled almost $63 million in 2005, accounting for 9% of the total economic activity in the Municipality of Port Hope during that year. The study, commissioned by Cameco and prepared by Professor Harry Kitchen of the department of economics at Trent University, also shows direct and indirect spending by Cameco on wages, salaries, purchases from local suppliers and contributions to local charities totalled over $117 million for all of Northumberland County in 2005, or 4% of regional economic activity. Cameco also has a significant employment impact in Port Hope.  The uranium conversion facility is the second largest employer in the municipality's manufacturing sector and Cameco Fuel Manufacturing is the fourth largest.  Combined, they employed 526 people directly and 164 additional person years indirectly through secondary job creation in 2005.  Regionally, in 2005, Cameco created 648 jobs directly and 759 person years indirectly in Northumberland County.  The conversion facility and Cameco Fuel Manufacturing combined assessment accounted for 1.55% of Port Hope's taxable assessment in 2005 and 4.1% of the municipality's property tax revenue. In 2005, Cameco and Cameco Fuel Manufacturing paid a total of over $1.2 million in property taxes to Port Hope, the county and local school boards.

The initial discovery of uranium was on a freshly-poured concrete slab at the bottom of an excavation pit. Cameco had excavated a pit to install a new tank. As part of that process, a concrete floor was installed at the bottom of the pit. Perched water (water in soil above groundwater) entered the pit and came into contact with the new concrete. The pH of the water was altered when it came into contact with the concrete and this resulted in uranium precipitating or separating from the water. When an employee spotted yellow staining on the concrete pad on Friday, July 13, 2007, Cameco immediately reported it to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and Ontario's Ministry of the Environment and began to investigate.

Uranium was not known to be in the soil under the UF₆ plant until the investigation began after the July 13 discovery of uranium on the concrete slab.

In its initial report, which was provided to the CNSC on August 15, 2007, Golder Associates indicated that some leak points might have been present for many years.

One of the statements included in the preamble to this question need to be addressed before it can be answered. The UF₆ plant is not located in the regulatory flood plain. Studies accepted by the Ganaraska Region Conservation Authority confirm that Cameco's property largely lies outside the flood plain and the UF₆ plant is completely outside the flood plain. The flood plain map shows that a small section of the property along the inner harbour is within the flood plain and Cameco has committed to addressing this issue as part of the Vision 2010 project.

With that being said, Golder Associates has performed a thorough inspection of all concrete structures in the UF₆ plant as part of the ongoing investigation. All testing to date, including compressive strength testing, has indicated the concrete to be in generally good condition, with some localized surface corrosion. Cracks in trenches and other in-ground structures are typically less than one millimetre wide and probably not full-depth through the concrete. The limited corrosion of separate structures within the building does not affect the stability of the building. There is no evidence that the building has structural problems.

Although the federal government primarily regulates the conversion facility, Cameco endeavours to follow the 3Rs regulation of Ontario's Ministry of the Environment. Material is segregated onsite. Non-contaminated materials are sent to recycling facilities. The company has a rigorous source-separation program, which ensures that all materials are monitored for contamination before leaving the site. Examples of these materials include recyclable material (paper, cardboard, etc.), fluorescent light bulbs, scrap steel, and computer equipment. This material is sent to facilities locally, and elsewhere within the province of Ontario.

Hazardous materials that are non-contaminated are disposed through licensed receivers in accordance with Ontario's hazardous waste regulations.

A major influence in setting any insurance rate is the level of risk that an event will occur. There has never been a nuclear accident in Canada. As a consequence, the risk that this insurance will have to be called on is extremely low and sheds some light on what the federally appointed regulator feels may be the exposure of Cameco in such an incident. Natural Resources Canada is looking at revising the Nuclear Liability Act, and although Cameco does not know what the outcome of this process will be, those who have any concerns about the provisions of this statute may contact this federal government department to provide input.

The CNSC sets licence limits in Canada on the basis of standards that are developed by international consensus using the latest scientific evidence of the levels of exposure that will not subject people to unreasonable risk. After setting these conservative license limits, the CNSC then asks its licensees to use the ALARA (As Low As Reasonably Achievable) principle work towards further reducing emissions, exposures, etc. even though all regulatory requirements are already being met. ALARA is a continuous improvement principle; even things that are already very good and meet all regulatory requirements can be improved further. The CNSC does not use ALARA to set standards; it uses it to push licensees to go beyond standards that are already acceptably safe.

It is important to understand that Cameco closely monitors emissions at all of its operating sites and at present the emissions, when taken in isolation, are well below regulatory limits. In fact, the cumulative emissions from all the facilities in Port Hope are less than the prescribed limits for the facilities individually and substantially less than the exposure the public receives from natural sources.

A review of past shipping records indicates that Cameco has not shipped depleted uranium to Aerojet Ordnance Tennessee.  We believe that Eldorado Nuclear may have done so.  The Port Hope conversion facility is licensed to produce "not more than 2,000 tonnes as depleted or natural uranium metal and alloys from the Specialty Metals Plant".  Although we are licensed to produce depleted uranium metal, we have not engaged in this activity for a number of years.  We have however shipped depleted uranium metal in raw form to various customers around the world.  Depleted UO₂ is periodically processed at the facility for use in Candu fuel bundles.

Cameco has announced its Vision 2010 project, a multimillion-dollar initiative to renew, clean up and modernize the Port Hope conversion facility.  It involves the removal of obsolete buildings and contaminated soils that date back to a period when the federal government operated the facility as well as the construction of several new replacement buildings.

The company is also striving to improve the appearance of the conversion facility through its ongoing clean up program, which has seen the removal of several small buildings over the past several years as well as the painting of older buildings.

Although the conversion facility is in compliance with regulatory requirements on emissions to air and water, Cameco is committed to developing and implementing improved processes that further reduce the environmental impact of its operations.

No. Regardless of the location of a nuclear facility, the same radiation limits are in place to ensure that there is not a negative impact on the public. However, numerous safeguards are in place at both the Port Hope conversion facility and Cameco Fuel Manufacturing to ensure that employee and public safety is maintained.

One option for meeting regulatory requirements for impact of emissions on the public is locate the facility some distance away from where people live. Another option, and the one used by the Port Hope conversion facility and Cameco Fuel Manufacturing, is to carefully control and try to reduce the amount of emissions.

The regulations for airborne beryllium exposure are the same in Canada as in the United States. Cameco Fuel Manufacturing's testing program exceeds all regulatory requirements and employee exposure to airborne beryllium is well below the limits prescribed by Labour Canada. The company is not aware of any regulations in either country requiring beryllium sensitivity testing but, when the technical capability became available, it began conducting the tests.

Cameco is in compliance with CEPA: Uranium is not listed as a "toxic substance" in this legislation nor, as a naturally occurring element, is it targeted as a substance for "virtual elimination" in the list created pursuant to the relevant section of CEPA. Having said that, Cameco continues its efforts to prevent pollution, control and manage of the risk of any adverse effects of the use and release of substances, pollutants and wastes.

Cameco has no plans to move from its current location. The company is committed to the community as well as its employees, many of whom live in the Municipality of Port Hope. Our commitment is demonstrated by our multimillion-dollar Vision 2010 project to renew, clean up and modernize the conversion facility. Cameco provides an important service in processing uranium products for electricity generators producing clean electricity both here in Ontario and around the world. Half of the electricity generated in Ontario uses uranium products processed in Port Hope. The facility has operated safely for many years at its current location.

The CNSC is responsible for setting standards for allowable levels of radiation for employees at licensed nuclear facilities as well as for members of the public, which it does taking into account the best available scientific information and international standards. The allowable level of radiation exposure to the public is the same for all licensed facilities in Canada (1 mSv dose to a member of the public in a year), no matter what type of facility they are: refinery, conversion facility, fuel manufacturer, nuclear reactor, etc. In addition, the radiation emitted by Cameco and Cameco Fuel Manufacturing is substantially lower than the licensed limit.

There is no plan in Vision 2010 to alter or augment the rail spur line in order to ship uranium hexafluoride (UF₆) by rail and, in fact, this idea was not raised during the extensive public consultations on Vision 2010 conducted by Cameco.  Cameco has never shipped UF₆ out of the Port Hope conversion facility by rail.  Our UF₆ may be transported by rail in other parts of the world, but our facility is not set up to handle initial shipping by rail.

Cameco has used the Port of Oshawa to ship our products and expects to do so again in the future.  We have worked closely with port officials to ensure that their employees have the knowledge and training necessary to safely handle our products.

In 2002, the Municipality of Port Hope decided that it needed to construct a new potable water treatment plant to supply water for the municipality.  The selected site is just west of the existing water treatment plant and in an area that was slated for remediation under the Port Hope Area Initiative.  Prior to construction of the new facility, it was necessary for the federal government's Low Level Radioactive Waste Management Office (LLRWMO) to remove all residual contaminated soil from the site.  Because this volume could not be accommodated in the existing LLRWMO temporary storage facilities in the municipality, Cameco offered, and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission accepted, that this material could be temporarily stored on the Centre Pier property, placed on an existing concrete pad previously used in the 1970s for similar purposes, and managed appropriately until the new long-term waste management facility was ready to receive this material.  This avoided the creation of another pile of material at another location within the municipality.  Over the summer of 2003, approximately 17,500 cubic metres of remaining, marginally contaminated soil from the municipal waterworks project were transferred to the Centre Pier.  The material is covered and safely managed by the LLRWMO personnel with some assistance from Cameco as required.

There are no plans to relocate the conversion facility and even if it occurred the cost would approach $1 billion. It would also take many years to get through the regulatory approval process as well as to design and construct a new facility.

Cameco Fuel Manufacturing is the largest Canadian-based supplier of reactor components to Candu operators in Canada and around the world.  It produces natural uranium dioxide (UO₂₎ fuel bundles that are used to generate electricity at Candu reactors.  Uranium dioxide powder from Cameco's Port Hope conversion facility is pressed into small pellets that are placed in zirconium tubing, which is then sealed at each end.  A number of these tubes are bound together into the finished fuel bundle. The Cobourg plant processes the zirconium tubing. One fuel bundle can supply an average home with energy for 100 years. A reactor at Darlington contains over 6,000 bundles.

Cameco Fuel Manufacturing has been licensed and has safely worked with enriched uranium for more than 40 years. The company has received approval from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) for an increase in the amount of slightly enriched uranium that can be on site at any given time. The material will be used to create a new, more efficient fuel for Bruce Power. The new fuel offers enhanced safety margins as the bundle employs a mixture of dysprosium oxide with uranium oxide in the fuel pellets. The dysprosium enhances the safety of the reactor by serving as a brake to slow the nuclear chain reaction in the unlikely event of a loss of coolant. More (PDF 422 KB)

Before being used in a nuclear reactor the fuel bundles produced by Cameco Fuel Manufacturing are very safe to handle - in fact, they are handled every day by employees. Although employees wear cotton gloves when handling a bundle, the gloves are not required to protect the employee from the bundle, but instead to protect the bundle from halogen contamination in the natural oils in a person's skin. The fuel bundle contains natural uranium and the radiation it emits is very low. Only when the bundle gets used in a nuclear reactor, does it become very radioactive and pose a potential health risk to people. This, of course, does not happen in Port Hope, but only in the controlled environment of the nuclear reactor site designed for this purpose.

It is extremely difficult to create the conditions required to cause a nuclear chain reaction (criticality).  Cameco Fuel Manufacturing has been licensed for many years to handle sufficient amounts of enriched uranium to make a nuclear chain reaction theoretically possible.  However, safe engineering and handling procedures ensure that such an event will not occur.  Even though Cameco Fuel Manufacturing has received permission from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission to work with larger quantities of slightly enriched uranium than it has in the past, the likelihood of an inadvertent criticality occurring remains negligible.  It's important to remember that even if what the company's scientists call "the near miracle" of a criticality did happen, there would not be an explosion.  An explosion is completely impossible with the enrichments and types of uranium materials used at the facility.  When a criticality occurs, the materials heat up and expand, and the conditions allowing the criticality to occur are lost.  In other words, the process is self-limiting. Individuals close to the event would be in great danger, but no one elsewhere in the facility or outside the plant would suffer harm.

More on how Cameco protects the health and safety of its employees and the public

Although Cameco Fuel Manufacturing regularly monitors the health of its employees, it has not conducted a mortality or morbidity study on its employees. The main reason for this is that the number of people involved is too low to produce a statistically reliable result. In addition, there has never been any indication of a concern from our employees (who work with the material every day) that would prompt the company to believe such a study might be required. Instead, consistent with what is known as the "ALARA" principle (As Low As Reasonably Achievable), Cameco Fuel Manufacturing focuses its efforts on continual improvement in the work environment to improve the safety and health of its employees.

It is safe to eat vegetables grown in Port Hope, provided that the ground has not been identified as being contaminated by historic industrial practices. At the Interim Licensing hearing for Cameco Fuel Manufacturing, the CNSC Commission stated: "there is no health risk from consuming vegetables grown in these gardens."

There is approximately one truck carrying radioactive materials that comes in or out of the site every other day.  Members of the public can safely drive behind or beside these trucks.  If one person drove all of the company's truck shipments (which is not the case), the radiation dose the person would receive would be less than one third of the annual public dose limit.

The facility is licensed on the basis of restricting impact on people and the environment to safe levels. The facility's containment systems and shielding ensure that the impact on people is negligible even if they live very close to the plant. The mandate of the nuclear industry's regulator, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, includes consideration of safety of facilities and, as evidenced by its licensing of the facility, the commission is satisfied with the company's policies.

The company has used blood tests to assess employees for sensitivity to beryllium (Be) for a number of years. Some humans have a chemical sensitivity to this material, which is used at our Cobourg plant. Testing helps us to ensure that employees with the sensitivity are not assigned to work closely with Be. We have a comprehensive program in place to ensure that exposures to Be are minimized. Previous testing has indicated that exposure levels for employees are a small fraction of the recommended limit. There has never been an indication of either sensitivity to beryllium or any negative health impact on any Cameco Fuel Manufacturing employee due to working with beryllium.

The company holds a licence from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) that is conditional on the operation of our facility not having a significant impact on the environment. The CNSC implements this licence condition by setting very restrictive limits on emissions. The facility's actual environmental performance is monitored both by the company and by the CNSC. Cameco Fuel Manufacturing's emissions to the air during the year 2005 were 0.16% of the regulatory limit and our emissions to water were 0.0096% of the regulatory limit.