nuclear-news

Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility (CCNR) intervention re. Cameco’s “Uranium Hexafluoride” plant at Port Hope Ontario

Gordon Edwards, 21 October 26,

With the unprovoked war on Iran by the USA and Israel, uranium enrichment has become an exceedingly touchy technology. Uranium enrichment requires the use of uranium hexafluoride, the only known compound of uranium that turns into a gas at a relatively low temperature (56.5 degrees C). There are only three commercial UF6 plants in the western world, in Canada, the USA, and France.

UF6 is a very nasty chemical. When released as a gas it reacts violently with moisture in the air to from a noxious haze of white “smoke” – a mixture of hydrogen fluoride and uranyl fluoride – that is highly corrosive, causing deep chemical burns, pulmonary edema, destruction of eye tissues, rapid kidney damage, and sometimes death.

CCNR recommends the creation of an exclusion zone of at least two kilometres around the facility, either by purchasing properties within that radius, or relocating the plant to a less densely populated area. There are currently 10,000 living within 2 miles of the Port Hope facility, with no emergency measures plan (with evacuation) predicated on a malicious attack on the facility.

www.ccnr.org/CCNR_PHCF_CNSC_2026.pdf

October 28, 2026 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Canada, safety