Shared from Danny Goedhard When someone tells you Nuclear energy is clear energy ...just remember what happened to Serpent River Elliot Lake: The "Uranium Capital" of the world, the Blind River-Elliot Lake area of Ontario had 12 uranium mines by 1960. All mining was underground at a depth of 170 to 950 metres. The low grade ore was plentiful. These mines accounted for about 80% of all uranium produced in Canada. Within about twenty years of operation, more than 30 dams, built to contain uranium tailings, failed, dump ing nuclear waste and chemical toxins into the Serpent River watershed which flows into Lake Huron. By 1976, the entire Serpent River system including more than a dozen lakes, was badly contaminated for 80 kilometres or so downstream. The Serpent River system was identified by the International Joint Commission as the largest single contributor of radium contamination to the Great Lakes. By 1996 when the mine finally closed, over 120,000 tonnes of yellowcake had been produced from the Elliot Lake mines, but over 170,000,000 tonnes of radioactive tailings are left behind. watershedsentinel.ca/content/yellowcake-trail-part-one-history-uranium-mining-canada
Posted on: Sat, 08 Jun 2013 11:21:43 +0000