Nuclear power in Canada

As well, the effectiveness and adequacy of The study findings likely underestimate the over- tailings management facilities at mine sites in Canada all impacts of the use of nuclear energy for electricity has been subject to serious question. [...] This is a result of significant history of uranium mine tailings management facility gaps in the publicly available information on releases failures in Canada and elsewhere in the world, result- of pollutants and contaminants, as well as on the fate ing in severe surface water and groundwater contami- of certain waste streams related to the nuclear indus- nation. [...] Further releases of GHGs occur as a result Heavy reliance on coal-fired electricity to backstop of the operation of equipment in the uranium min- under-performing or offline nuclear units has been ing process, the milling of uranium ore, mill tailings associated with major increases in releases of green- management activities, and refining and conversion house gases and other air pollutants. [...] The generation of greenhouse gases from of eight reactors between 1995 and 2001under the mining and milling operations would increase pro- 1997 Nuclear Asset Optimization Plan led to emis- portionally with the use of lower grade uranium ores, sions of GHGs from the province’s coal-fired power as larger amounts of ore would have to be extracted plants increasing by a factor of 2.3, sulphur dioxide [...] The International Agency for Research on monetized value of the off-site environmental, health Cancer (IARC) lists a number of radionuclides as and economic impacts of a major accident at the Dar- carcinogenic to humans, including isotopes produced lington generating facility east of the City of Toronto, in uranium mining and milling, fuel production and for example, would exceed $1 trillion (1991