The Players
Bill Good | Terry Rogers
| Gordon Edwards | Kevin
Scissons
Bill Good
Bill Good was one of a team of workers who struggled to save
the McArthur River Mine in the first 48 hours of the flood.
He says they worked without respirators or radiation suits
in Bay 12 for those two days. |
They struggled to install water pumps as they stood in
water with radon gas bubbling out of it. According to Good,
the mine's radiation alarm kept going off, but the radiation
technician merely re-set the alarm, assuring them that everything
was find.
"He'd just go over and turn it off,
and on. And then it would go green and then ten minutes
later it would be red."
Good remembers that when the flood first started, it became
clear that the future of the mine was at risk. Aware that
their jobs were at risk if the mine was destroyed, the workers
agreed to go back into the mine. Good was on that first shift
installing pumps to try and get the water out.
Today, Good worries about the high levels of radon he breathed
in during those two days.
"We'd look over at the Prism and it would turn red."
The Prism alarm normally turns red when the radon levels
are greater than one. CBC has learned that in the first days
of the flood, the radon levels soared as high as 44. The Canadian
Nuclear Safety Commission intervened after 48 hours of work,
and told Cameco they would have to protect their workers.
Miners wearing the protective gear continued to work on the
mine for months, and by July 2003, the mine was back in business.
Good has worked underground in northern mines for more than
20 years, and continues to work at the McArthur River mine.
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Terry Rogers
The uranium found at the McArthur River is so pure, so radioactive
that it is the Cameco Corporation's flagship mine.
When the ceiling in the part of the mine called Bay-12 collapsed
on April 6th, 2003, Terry Rogers got the call at eight in
the morning. By then, the miners were already back underground,
trying to stem the effects of the flood.
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"My reaction was that it was potentially bad news,
and we assembled the corporate crisis management team right
here in Saskatchewan to start dealing with it. Communicating
with the mine."
Back at Bay-12, the plan was to release stench gas - the
stench gas acts as a pungent alarm telling miners to get
out fast - and then send in a team with protective breathing
gear.
"People had to carry materials and supplies into this
evacuation area, this tunnel, and wearing the full respiratory
gear with the air packs became a conventional safety issue.
They couldn't actually do the work."
That's when Bill Good and the rest of his team of miners
went in without the protective gear.
"It was not an option to do nothing. There is a safe
way to save the mine, and that's what we did. We sent people
down specifically in the area where the failure occurred."
Rogers says that Cameco is trying to learn from the incident,
but is not sure they would handle it the same way again.
"Whether or not, looking back on it, could we have
done something different, the answer is correct. Yes, we
could have. Should we have? I don't know that we would do
much different, based on what we knew.
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Gordon Edwards
Edwards points out that the science is clear - no level of
exposure to radon is safe. He warns that exposure to radon
can dramatically increase the risk of cancer.
"I think these workers should be concerned. I think
the regulator should be concerned, because human life is not
being respected. There is no reason why the company should
not have had respirators at least for these workers immediately
available." |
| The Nuclear Safety Commission agrees with Cameco that
the exposures were not high enough to do any harm, and below
their own federally set limits, but Edwards disagrees.
"I think it's unconscionable. In fact, it's a downright
lie for the CNSC to say that if it's below the regulatory
limit there's no harm done."
Edwards points out that radon is a known carcinogen that
can get trapped in the lungs and damage the tissue. He examined
the reports released by Cameco about the flood and believes
the miners have something to worry about.
"And we are talking about life-threatening exposures,
because every exposure to radon is acknowledged to be potentially
life-threatening. We are not talking here about just numbers
on a sheet of paper. We're talking about mortality."
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Kevin Scissons
A year after the McArthur River mine flood, Kevin Scissons
is still investigating the incident.
After reading numerous reports on the flood, he believes
that Cameco did take some risks in their handling of the situation,
but still can't say if they acted appropriately. |
"They will be held accountable and they will have to
explain their situation and their way forward to our commission
members who make the ultimate decision o the license."
His final report is due this June, and may have an effect
on Cameco right away since they apply for a license renewal
later this year.
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