DOCSLIB.ORG

Case Study of Remedial Works for Closure of Port Radium, Canada's

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Case Study of Remedial Works for Closure of Port Radium, Canada's WM2010 Conference, March 7-11, 2010, Phoenix, AZ Northern Mine Decommissioning – Case Study of Remedial Works for Closure of Port Radium, Canada’s Original Uranium Mine - 10397 G.M. Wiatzka, SENES Consultants Limited C.F. Gravelle, Decommissioning Consulting Services Limited ABSTRACT This paper provides a case study perspective on key aspects of the remedial activities associated with closure of the former Port Radium Mine site located on the east side of Great Bear Lake, Northwest Territories. The paper provides a brief overview of the process followed to identify environmental and risk management issues, identify remedial objectives and options, develop associated construction specifications and contract documents, and implement the construction works. The case study provides insight into the technical, logistical, and physical challenges associated with implementation of remedial works in northern remote locations and the approach and activities undertaken to meet these challenges. BACKGROUND SENES Role SENES Consultants Limited (SENES) has been involved with the Port Radium mine and vicinity sites since 2000. Initial efforts included undertaking various environmental assessments on under the direction of the Canada-Déline Uranium Table (CDUT) a co-operative initiative to ensure that environmental conditions at the site were appropriately characterized, that site issues defined, and that appropriate remedial plans were developed for the site. Following five years of site assessment and remedial planning, that included consultation with chief and council, as well as extensive community engagement, a final Remedial Action Plan (RAP) was prepared [1]. This document formed the basis for the remedial engineering designs, contract and specifications, as well as project cost estimates for the work. SENES was subsequently retained by Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) on behalf of the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, to provide engineering supervision services for the remedial site works. SENES is currently carrying out the long term monitoring program for the remediated site. Location and History For the purposes of this paper the “Port Radium” site is considered to consist of three closed mines located on the eastern shores of Great Bear Lake in the Northwest Territories, approximately 440 km north of the City of Yellowknife and 265 km east of the Community of Déline (see Fig. 1a). Page 1 of 13 WM2010 Conference, March 7-11, 2010, Phoenix, AZ Fig. 1a. Map showing location of Port Fig. 1b. Port Radium Mine Site Key Plan. Radium. Fig.1. Location and Vicinity Maps. The three mines include: the original Port Radium mine located on Labine Point, the Echo Bay mine located at end of Labine Bay and the Cross Fault Lake mine, located about 2 km in-land from Great Bear Lake (see Fig. 1b). After initial mining in the 1930’s, the mine sites were operated through a crown corporation (Eldorado Mining and Refining) from the 1940’s until the 1960’s. The mineral claims were transferred to Echo Bay Mines Ltd. in 1964, which operated the Echo Bay mine to 1974, and then re-worked the Port Radium mine to 1982. The Port Radium was initially established as a radium mine, but uranium and silver subsequently became the main minerals of interest. In the early days of radium and uranium mining, ore was transported by boat and barge across the waterways while in later years, ore/concentrate was transported off-site via barge to Sawmill Bay and transported to southern Canada by air transport. The mines have undergone two prior decommissioning programs. The first was completed in 1962 by Eldorado Mining and Refining, and included the decommissioning of the underground mines and removal of some of the major equipment but left the mill and camp site. The second program was done by Echo Bay Mines Ltd. in 1982 at which time most of the mine site structures were demolished, equipment removed, shafts and adits secured, and some areas with elevated gamma radiation were covered with waste rock. In both cases, the decommissioning was carried out to the standard of the day. The remaining structures included several small sheds and cabins at Port Radium and Echo Bay and a headframe and cabins at Cross Fault Lake. After cessation of operation, the sites had returned to the Government of Canada, which had custodial responsibility for the existing environmental liabilities on the property. The Contaminants and Remediation Directorate (CARD) of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) currently manages activities at the site. Page 2 of 13 WM2010 Conference, March 7-11, 2010, Phoenix, AZ Community Concerns As a result of past activities both at the site and in association with ore/concentrate transportation, the community of Déline expressed significant concerns about any existing or potential environmental contamination, in particular concerning past, present or potential future exposure to radiation as well as other sources of contamination related to the operation of the mines. The community of Déline brought these concerns to national attention in the late 1990s, and the Crown and Déline agreed to move forward in a collaborative manner. As part of this agreement, the Crown formed an interdepartmental committee between INAC, Health Canada, Natural Resources Canada, as well as GNWT Health and Social Services with INAC taking the lead. CDUT was formed to carry out studies under the advice of the Déline Chief and Council and the interdepartmental committee to provide a joint process by which the people of Déline could have their concerns addressed. The CDUT operated from 2000 to 2005 and made twenty-six recommendations which were accepted by the Déline Chief and Council and INAC. Under the direction of the CDUT, a RAP was developed by SENES that presented the CDUT’s preferred options for remediation at the site. The remedial action plan was the outcome of a unique, wide ranging, and intensive co- operative effort between Canada and Déline that consolidated the results of five years of efforts including environmental site investigations, human health and ecological risk assessments, iterative presentations of potential remedial options, and integrated these scientific principles with traditional knowledge and community values. The remedial action plan for the site comprised the following physical works; closure of the vertical and horizontal mine openings present at the three mine sites; installation of an engineered cap over the former Silver Point Tailings Containment Area; demolition of the structures remaining on-site; management of designated substances such as asbestos applications; construction of a landfill to contain the demolition debris; placement of a cover over areas identified as having elevated gamma radiation levels, recovery and management of petroleum impacted soils encountered on-site and undertaking a verification program to confirm that the concerns associated with radioactive and petroleum hydrocarbon (PHC) impacts had been appropriately mitigated. THE LIFE CYCLE OF THE PROJECT As with any project, there first has to be a challenge or problem to solve. The challenge in this case was defined as the desire of Déline and the Crown to ensure that the Port Radium site was decommissioned in a manner that minimizes its potential impact on animals, the environment and human health and safety. To this end, the remedial program was undertaken in eight stages similar to any other civil or remediation project, namely: 1. define existing or potential concerns through site assessment and investigation; 2. develop remedial options, evaluate preliminary engineering plans and costs, and present the preferred action plan; 3. develop cost estimates based on the preferred remedial option; 4. prepare final remedial engineering and tender documents; Page 3 of 13 WM2010 Conference, March 7-11, 2010, Phoenix, AZ 5. commence bidding process, evaluate the submitted bids, and award the work to the most qualified bid; 6. undertake the remedial works; 7. prepare closure documentation and present findings to project stakeholders at completion of the closure works; and, 8. implement post remedial short and long term monitoring as identified in the RAP and outlined in licensing requirements. The first three stages of the Port Radium remedial project were completed by SENES under the direction of the CDUT commencing in 2001 through to 2005. The site characterization work focused on the afore-mentioned issues and the results can be found in a series of SENES reports [2, 3, 4, 5, 6] while the RAP, which was prepared on the basis of these investigations, can be read in more detail in reference SENES/CDUT 2005 [1]. Stages 4 to 7 were undertaken under the direction of PWGSC who retained SENES to oversee the preparation of the Class A remedial cost estimate, the remedial tender documentation, assist with the tendering process, and provide contract supervisory services for the duration of the remedial program. The final stage of the project will be undertaken once the remedial program for the Port Radium site has been completed. A more detailed discussion of the work items involved under the various stages of the project is presented in the following sections. DETAILS ON RESPECTIVE STAGES OF THE WORK Stage 1 – Site Assessment and Characterization As part of the CDUT’s mandate, it oversaw the necessary site investigation programs to determine the extent of the environmental concerns that pertain to the Port Radium mine. The 2001 and 2003 site investigations
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Early Progress in Building Confidence and Partnerships with Northern
    WM2011 Conference, February 27 – March 3, 2011, Phoenix, AZ Early Progress in Building Confidence and Partnerships with Northern First Nations and Communities in Low-Level Radioactive Waste Remediation Projects in Canada - 11321 Liliana Benitez*, Julie L. Brown*, Dave McCauley*, Robert L. Zelmer **, * Natural Resources Canada, **Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management Office. ABSTRACT In 1982, the Government of Canada established the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management Office (LLRWMO) as Canada’s agent for the management of historic low-level radioactive waste. Occurrences of historic waste have been discovered across Canada. The LLRWMO has conducted remediation activities in Port Hope, ON, Toronto (Scarborough), ON, Vancouver (Surrey), BC, Fort McMurray, AB, Tulita, NT, and various other locations across the country. At this time, a key area of focus for the LLRWMO is putting in place a strategy to address sites in Canada’s north that were contaminated, long ago, by the spillage of radioactive ores in transport. The contamination is located along what is known as the Northern Transportation Route, a 2200 km long route of lakes, rivers and portage points beginning at the former Port Radium site on Great Bear Lake, NT and extending to Fort McMurray, AB. To carry out its work in the north, the LLRWMO is adapting methods of community engagement and technical approaches that have led to successful remediation projects in Canada’s southern regions. Adjustments are being made to meet the realities of the north. Those realities include the challenges of Canada’s northern geography and environment and the need for understanding the ways of northern peoples.
    [Show full text]
  • Asbestos Hill: Inuit Experiences with Nunavik’S First Mine
    ASBESTOS HILL: INUIT EXPERIENCES WITH NUNAVIK’S FIRST MINE by © Jeanette Carney A Thesis submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of Geography Memorial University of Newfoundland October, 2016 St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador ABSTRACT Over the past century, the Canadian north has experienced an economic, social, and environmental transformation due to mineral development projects. These new developments have contributed to the rapid modernization of Aboriginal and Inuit peoples. Research has shown that past mines in the North continue to play a role in northern communities, shaping community identity and leaving behind negative environmental and socio-cultural legacies. As of yet, little social science research has been undertaken on the impacts of mining in Nunavik (northern Québec) and this study is the first to be conducted on the Asbestos Hill mine (1972-1984), Nunavik’s first mine. Using oral history and archival research methods, this thesis examines past Inuit mine workers’ experiences at the mine, the communities of Salluit and Kangiqsujuaq’s encounters with this industrial operation, and the legacies it left behind. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My Master’s thesis has been an incredibly difficult and gratifying experience, which could not have been possible without the support of my mentors, colleagues, family, and friends. Their continual encouragement, empathy, and assistance have helped me persevere throughout the research and writing processes of this Master’s. First, and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisor, Dr. Arn Keeling, for his exceptional guidance, insight, and expertise throughout the past two years.
    [Show full text]
  • The Great Bear Lake: Its Place in History
    One of the chimneys of the old Fort Confidence as it was in 1964. The chimneys are all that remain of the fort which was constructed in 1836 and last occupied in 1852. The Great Bear Lake: Its Place in History LIONEL JOHNSON1 INTRODUCTION Great Bear Lake (Fig. 1) is one of the most prominent geographic features of northern Canada. Shaped likethe missing piece of a jigsaw puzzle, with five arms radiating from a central body, it has a total area of 31,150 square kilometres - approximately the same as that of the Netherlands. It is the eighth largest, and by far the most northerly, of the world's major lakes, and probably the least productive. (Johnson 1975a). PIG. 1 Great Bear Lake and surrounding area. The Arctic Circle transects the northernmost arm of the lake, and so the sun is visible from it for 24 hours a day in June, while in mid-winter daylight lasts for only twoto three hours. In July, the mean daily maximumtemperature is 19OC, in sharp contrast to the equivalent January figure of -27OC. Warm summers and cold winters, together with a total annual precipitation of about 230 millimetres, give rise to conditions which may best be described as northern continental. Up to two metres of ice form on the lake by April, when the snow on the 1Freshwater Institute, Environment Canada, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. 232 GREAT BEAR LAKE surrounding land begins to melt; and it is not until middle of July, or even later in some years, that the waters become ice-free.
    [Show full text]
  • The Secret Life of the Atom
    The Secret Life of the Atom a photographic exhibit by Robert Del Tredici with commentary by Gordon Edwards Ph.D. winner of the 2006 Nuclear-Free Future Award in Education produced on the occasion of The Indigenous World Uranium Summit The Nuclear Free Future Awards Window Rock, Arizona November 30-December 2, 2006 Column 1: History Lesson Much of the uranium for the WW II atomic bomb project came from Canada. The decision to build Canada’s first nuclear reactors was made in Washington DC in 1944, as part of the wartime effort to produce plutonium for the same atomic bomb program. After the war, Canada supplied plutonium (free) to Britain for its first atomic bomb, and sold plutonium to the Americans for their bomb program. And, by 1959, uranium had become Canada’s fourth most important export after wheat, lumber, and pulp; up to that time it was all used in the American nuclear weapons program. In 1974, India exploded its first A-bomb using plutonium from a Canadian-donated research reactor. Since 1965, all Canadian nuclear materials were declared to be for peaceful purposes only. However Canada continued to send irradiated fuel from Chalk River to Savannah River where it was used for weapons purposes, and Canadian depleted uranium continued to be used in the fabrication of American warheads. The large amounts of plutonium produced in Canadian reactors has attracted the interest of militaristic regimes in a number of countries. 1. Great Bear Lake. The Sahtu-Dene (“people of the water”) have lived along the shores of Great Bear Lake for thousands of years.
    [Show full text]
  • Ore Mineralogy and Uraninite Trace Element Chemistry of Hydrothermal Polymetallic U- Ag-(Co-Ni-As-Bi-Sb-Cu) Vein Deposits, Eldorado Mine, Port Radium, NWT
    Ore mineralogy and uraninite trace element chemistry of hydrothermal polymetallic U- Ag-(Co-Ni-As-Bi-Sb-Cu) vein deposits, Eldorado Mine, Port Radium, NWT By Matthew Bailey A Thesis Submitted to Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, Nova Scotia in Partial Fulfillment of the of the Requirements for the Degree of Geology. May 1st, 2017, Halifax Nova Scotia ©Matthew Bailey, 2017 Approved: Dr. Jacob Hanley Associate Professor Department of Geology Date: May 1st, 2017 Ore mineralogy and uraninite trace element chemistry of hydrothermal polymetallic U-Ag-(Co-Ni-As-Bi-Sb-Cu) vein deposits, Eldorado Mine, Port Radium, NWT Matthew Bailey ABSTRACT The paragenetic sequence of uranium enriched polymetallic deposits at the Eldorado mine in the N.W.T, Canada, is poorly understood. Few studies have used modern analytical techniques to characterize the deposit. This study aims to update paragenetic models by use of petrographic work as well as SEM analysis. This data will be used in conjunction with LA-ICPMS to characterize the trace element composition of uraninite (interpreted to be UO2, U3O8 mixture). The data show that there are alternating sequences of coprecipitation between uraninite and Co-Ni arsenides. This indicates that the fluid is carrying multiple metals (U, Ni and Co) simultaneous and that a major factor in their precipitation is an increase in fO2. Our paragenetic sequence closely follows previous models Date: May 1 2017 2 Table of Contents: Figures list……………………………………………………………………………….4 Table list…………………………………………………………………………………5 1.0 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………6
    [Show full text]
  • Health Risks of Past Mining Activity (Uranium) - BAPE E-Doc: 4499064
    Canada’s Nuclear Regulator Health Risks of Past Mining Activity (Uranium) - BAPE e-Doc: 4499064 Health Risks of Past Mining Activity (Uranium) August 2014 e-Doc 4499064 EN e-Doc 4450370 FR Health Risks of Past Mining Activity (Uranium) - BAPE e-Doc: 4499064 Health Risks of Past Mining Activity (Uranium) © Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) 2014 Extracts from this document may be reproduced for individual use without permission provided the source is fully acknowledged. However, reproduction in whole or in part for purposes of resale or redistribution requires prior written permission from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission 280 Slater Street P.O. Box 1046, Station B Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5S9 CANADA Tel.: 613-995-5894 or 1-800-668-5284 (in Canada only) Facsimile: 613-995-5086 Email: [email protected] Website: nuclearsafety.gc.ca Facebook: facebook.com/CanadianNuclearSafetyCommission YouTube: youtube.com/cnscccsn Health Risks of Past Mining Activity (Uranium) - BAPE e-Doc: 4499064 Table of Contents 1 INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................... 1 2 BRIEF OVERVIEW OF URANIUM MINE REGULATION IN CANADA ...................... 1 3 WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED FROM THE BEAVERLODGE AND PORT RADIUM COHORTS? .................................................................................................................................. 2 4 PAST MINING ACTIVITIES ON THE PORT RADIUM SITE AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES......................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Government of Canada Policy on Radioactive Waste and Legacy
    Government of Canada Policy on Radioactive Waste and Legacy Uranium Mines Tom Calvert Uranium and Radioactive Waste Division Natural Resources Canada May 1, 2014 2 1: HISTORICAL CONTEXT Port Radium ~1957 3 Responsibility for Mineral Resources in Canada . Since 1930, all ten Canadian provinces responsible for mineral resources within their boundaries. Prior to 2003, federal government responsible for mineral resources in the three territories. Responsibilities for resources have been transferred to the territorial governments in the Yukon Territory (2003) and Northwest Territories (2014) and will be transferred in Nunavut. 4 Second World War . 1942: the federal government requested Eldorado Gold Mines Limited to re-open its radium mine on Great Bear Lake, Northwest Territories and its refinery in Port Hope, Ontario to supply uranium for the US-UK-Canada Manhattan Project (world’s first nuclear bomb). 1943: The federal government and most provincial governments banned uranium exploration and mining by private companies. (uranium is a strategic commodity). 1944: The federal government purchased Eldorado Gold Mines Limited to create the federal Crown corporation (publically-owned company) Eldorado Mining and Refining Limited . 5 Post War Period 1946 -1948 . 1946: The federal government created the Atomic Energy Control Board (AECB). 1948: Private exploration and mining was allowed but subject to AECB regulations: . Permits were required for advanced exploration and for the production of uranium. The permits required companies to report resources and production only to the government (kept secret). All uranium had to be sold through Eldorado. The provincial governments remained responsible for regulating uranium mining within the provinces. 6 Cold War Uranium Mining Boom, 1948-1965 .
    [Show full text]
  • OUR VISION We Are Dedicated to Quality Service, Safety and Environmental Protection, and to Building Alliances That Are Based on Fairness and Mutual Respect
    OUR VISION We are dedicated to quality service, safety and environmental protection, and to building alliances that are based on fairness and mutual respect. OUR MISSION Build on the collective knowledge and strength of our Tłįcho˛ citizens and communities to supply a range of quality, competitive services to government and industry; and, to provide a challenging and rewarding cross-cultural work environment for our employees. TABLE OF CONTENTS Leadership 4 Board of Directors 5 Administration 7 Messages 8 Chairperson 9 Chief Executive Officer/President 10 Chief Financial Officer 11 Chief Operating Officer 12 VP Strategic Development 13 Health, Safety and Environment 14 Corporation 16 Corporate Structure 17 Corporation Profiles 18 Employment 28 2016 Highlights 30 2017 Initiatives 32 Tłįcho˛ Communities 34 LEADERSHIP 4 | TŁĮCHO˛ INVESTMENT CORPORATION BOARD REPORT 2016 BOARD OF DIRECTORS Doreen Lafferty Zoe Peter Arychuk Luke Grosco Alex Nitsiza Chairperson Director Director Director Doreen Lafferty Zoe was born Peter Arychuk joined the TIC Board Luke Grosco is currently Alex Nitsiza has attained a wealth and raised in Behchokò˛ and is in April 2015. Peter is a long-term Operations Manager at F.C. of experience in business and in a current resident. Doreen is a northern resident, born in Hay Services in Behchokò˛, a family- economic development in the Director to the Board of the Tłįcho˛ River and raised in Fort Providence. owned business that provides a north, all of which he brings to his Investment Corporation, filling convenience store, gas bar and work as a Director of the Tłįcho˛ Peter is a businessman who was the role of Chairperson since bulk fuel reselling services.
    [Show full text]
  • Port Radium CDUT and Opportunities Related to Local Involvement in Planning, Managing Expectations
    Port Radium CDUT and Opportunities Related to Local Involvement in Planning, Managing Expectations Sam Kennedy AANDC - CARD Presented to: IAEA/CNSC Regulatory Supervision of Legacy Sites (RSLS) Elliot Lake, Ontario May 2, 2014 Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada (AANDC) - Contaminants and Remediation Directorate (CARD) • Until recently AANDC had administration and control of the majority of lands in the NWT. • CARD brings together all of AANDC's work associated with federal contaminated sites in the NWT. • Abandoned or Orphaned Site: a site where the person or corporation that created the contaminated site is unknown or out of business and the site is on federal crown land or Canada Lands (e.g. reserve land). Port Radium Brief History • Operated from 1930 to 1939 as a radium and silver mine by Eldorado Gold Mining Co. • Reopened by Eldorado in 1942 for uranium • Government of Canada acquired the mine in January 1944, operated as Eldorado Mining and Refining Ltd. Until 1960 • Echo Bay mines opened a silver mine on the property in 1964; reopened Shaft 1 at old Eldorado site and used milling facilities; decommissioned in 1982 to “standards of the day” Deline Approaches Canada Canada’s responses to concerns CDUT • An Interdepartmental Committee was formed by federal departments in early 1999 (AANDC, NRCan, Health Canda, GNWT H&SS). AANDC was assigned lead agency in the negotiations on behalf of the Government of Canada. • In 1999, Deline decided to work in partnership with Canada. Using the self government table, a new table
    [Show full text]
  • Northern War Stories: the Dene, the Archive, and Canada’S Atomic Highway of the Atom.I Modernity
    1 2 material, topographic, narrative, archival and memorial. It has come to be called the Northern War Stories: The Dene, the Archive, and Canada’s Atomic Highway of the Atom.i Modernity For many in this North the Highway of the Atom pertains to a history that is From Witness: Perspectives on War and Peace from the Arts and Humanities, edited by Sherrill very much alive in the present. If one is prepared to follow this route, it tells a story, or stories Grace, Patrick Imbert, and Tiffany Johnstone. McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2012, – fragile, marginal, unasked, and unheard – about history and memory, landscape and pp. 174-188. trauma, and ethics. But also, and significantly, it tells us about Canada’s silence on topics pertaining to its wartime activities. It tells us of a piece of marginal history, at the dawn of the Peter C. van Wyck Second World War, where a wilderness outpost became a nexus of connections and flows linking the pre-modern routes, practices and peoples of the fur trade and the atomic Site modernity in which, quite suddenly, Canada found itself. It tells us also about a profoundly Great Bear Lake in Canada’s Northwest Territories is a vast inland sea; nearly thirty one occluded vision available to those of us at a distance from all of this. And indeed this impaired thousand square kilometers. On the far eastern shore, where no one lives today, just below vision supports and ratifies the very idea that “we” are at a distance, to begin with. For the where the tree-line cuts across the immense glacial body of the lake, carved into barely southern researcher it poses important challenges – philosophical, archival, methodological – fathomable depths sometime in the late Pleistocene, at the far end of what is now called for thinking through some of the warring atlas of calamity that was the 20th century.
    [Show full text]
  • Fishing Livelihoods in the Mackenzie River Basin: Stories of the Délı˛Negot’Ine
    sustainability Article Fishing Livelihoods in the Mackenzie River Basin: Stories of the Délı˛neGot’ine Chelsea Martin 1,* , Brenda Parlee 1 and Morris Neyelle 2 1 Resource Economics and Environmental Sociology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2R3, Canada; [email protected] 2 Dene Elder, Délı˛neGot’ine Government, Délı˛ne,NT X0E 0G0, Canada; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected] Received: 27 July 2020; Accepted: 9 September 2020; Published: 24 September 2020 Abstract: Climate change is among the greatest challenges facing Indigenous peoples. The impacts of climate change cannot be understood as only ecological or through models and projections. In this study, narratives from Indigenous peoples provide lived experience and insight of how social and ecological impacts are interconnected. Through collaborative research with the Sahtú Renewable Resources Board in the Northwest Territories Canada in the period 2018–2019, this paper shares the stories of the Délı˛ne Got’ine peoples of Great Bear Lake (GBL), and how warming temperatures in the region impact fishing livelihoods. Specifically, we address the question, “What are the impacts of climate change on the fishing livelihoods of the Délı˛ne Got’ine people?” Narratives from 21 semi-structured interviews reveal insights on six dimensions of fishing livelihoods. Analysis suggests the specific indicators of ecological change of concern to fishers and how those impact livelihoods over the short and long term. Given that the majority of research on climate change involving Indigenous peoples in Canada has focused on the high arctic and marine environments, this work is unique in its focus on the subarctic region and on freshwater ecosystems and livelihoods.
    [Show full text]
  • RISK ASSESSMENT of SITE CONDITIONS at the PORT RADIUM MINE SITE, NWT Harriet A
    RISK ASSESSMENT OF SITE CONDITIONS AT THE PORT RADIUM MINE SITE, NWT Harriet A. Phillips, Bruce E. Halbert and Gerd M. Wiatzka SENES Consultants Limited, 121 Granton Drive, Unit 12, Richmond Hill, Ontario L4B 3N4 ABSTRACT day per year (an inspector) to 3 months per year (adult and child campers). Exposure pathways considered for The Port Radium mine site located on the eastern shore these groups included consumption of: drinking water line of Great Bear Lake, Northwest Territories, was mined and fish obtained from Great Bear Lake; berries gathered for radium, uranium and silver between 1932 and 1982. from across the site; ducks obtained from the on-site At closure, all surface facilities were demolished and the tailings basin; small game (hare, grouse) that inhabit the site was remediated to standards prevalent at that time. site; and, large game (caribou, moose) that traverse the The community of Déline, is located approximately 265 site. The results of the risk assessment showed that west of the mine site. To address concerns expressed radionuclides and metals present in environmental media by Déline residents about the environmental impacts of on-site do not a pose a risk of adverse effects to people the site, site investigations were carried out between who may use the site. Also, radiation exposures for all 2001 and 2004 to delineate current site conditions. individuals were estimated to be below the incremental Surface water, ground water, soils, tailings, vegetation dose limit of 1 millisievert per year to members of the and small game samples were collected for chemical and public.
    [Show full text]