nuclear-news

Families Against Radiation to post beach

FARE to post beach Northumberland Today By Louise BarracloughP 24 April 09

Families Against Radiation Exposure (FARE) plans to release soil test results on Saturday, Apr. 25, showing that a popular Port Hope beach playground is contaminated with uranium.The volunteer environmental organization has decided to hand out brochures to fishermen and residents at noon at the East Beach park at Mill and Madison Streets.

FARE believes the public, which uses the beach area, has a right to know that it is contaminated by uranium more than four times higher than guidelines issued by the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment.

What is disturbing is that the testing was done by SENES Consultants for Cameco Corporation and sent in a report to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission in June, 2008, but nobody told the municipality or the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management Office (LLRWMO).It was FARE which informed them of the problem on March 20, shortly after receiving them through the federal Access to Information Act from the CNSC.Uranium-in-soil concentrations of more than 98 parts per million were recorded at the park – three times higher than the LLRWMO clean-up criteria.

It is also much higher than the CCME standard of 23 parts per million, which signifies a “no- or low-effect” on human health.The park has been declared safe. Cameco confirmed the soil test results but claims that the uranium contamination has nothing to do with its operations or those of Eldorado Nuclear.FARE believes a public investigation needs to occur to determine what caused the contamination, why the park is not being posted or cleaned up, and why the municipality was not told a year ago.Louise BarracloughInterim president, FAREPort Hope

FARE to post beach – Northumberland Today – Ontario, CA

April 25, 2009 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Canada, environment