Judge rules against Elliot Lake owners over radioactive waste rock issue

Three women property owners in Elliot Lake, Ontario, are disappointed and shocked after a federal judge rejected their appeal to order the removal of radioactive waste rock from mines around their homes.

The city was once known as the uranium capital of the world.

The tidy homes, on quiet streets in what is now marketed as an attractive retirement community, are well maintained, but their owners say they harbor levels of radon gas and radiation that far exceed Health Canada limits.

Each of the women bought their homes without knowing that waste rock from nearby uranium mines was used as fill during the 1960s.

Radon is a radioactive gas resulting from the decay of uranium in soil and rocks.

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) told homeowners Jennifer Carling, Lisa Speck and Kathleen Panton in 2023 that it was not responsible for ordering current uranium mine owners to remove radioactive landfill from their properties, even though the material came from sites under their jurisdiction.

The uranium mines were operated by Rio Algom, decommissioned in the 1990s and are now owned by BHP.

The women were seeking a judicial review of the CNSC decision, but in a late 2024 ruling, Judge Ann Marie McDonald accepted the CNSC’s arguments that the rock was not part of the nuclear processing cycle and therefore , was not regulated by the CNSC.

McDonald said he sympathized with the women, but the CNSC’s regulatory authority only kicks in if the nuclear substance arises from the development, production or use of nuclear energy.

He said in this case the rock was not processed and contained natural radiation and, although it was later moved off-site and used in construction, it is not regulated.

Jennifer Carling, whose home recorded the highest levels of radiation, says she is infuriated by what she sees as a lack of accountability.

“I totally agree that radiation occurs naturally,” he said. “But when you remove radiation from a mine site that has a higher concentration and move it to other areas that may have regular background radiation, you compound the problem. You add more radioactive material to the already existing materials. “

Carling moved to Elliot Lake a few years ago when she and her late husband bought a bungalow, only to discover later that the house had been moved to town from a site near a mine in the 1960s, and had been used waste rock as Complete the relocation.

It was a similar situation for Kathleen Panton, now 85, who bought her home with her late husband in 1999 as a retirement investment, but now won’t let her grandchildren play in the backyard for fear of the health risk.

Lisa Speck bought her home on the outskirts of town as a vacation property in 2019, where some remediation had been done to remove residual rock used as fill, but where she said she spent $25,000 of her own money to make it safer.

Speck said she and others have been campaigning for changes that would address the legacy of mining waste and hold companies accountable.

“Homeowners have been given the responsibility to temporarily fix the issue, which we have been doing on our own, but a permanent solution needs to be implemented for the health and safety of this beautiful community,” Speck said.

She says so far politicians at all levels have been willing to listen, but she hasn’t seen any action.

Lawyer Kerrie Blaise, representing the Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA), represented the women.

She said she is deeply disappointed and feels the ruling opens a regulatory gap in the oversight of nuclear substances that could affect other communities across Canada.

“The implications of this are not only important for our homeowner customers, but for any other host community, whether or not new nuclear operations are proposed in their community or waste projects or waste disposal facilities,” Blaise said. “I think it’s a warning to any community hosting nuclear facilities, whether it’s Pickering, with existing nuclear operations, or communities in northwestern Ontario, which have been proposed to host Canada’s spent nuclear fuel rods.”

Appeal an option

Blaise said she and her clients have until mid-January to decide whether to appeal the decision, but they are still mulling it over.

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission said in a statement that it welcomes the decision and is reviewing it.

He also said he is dedicated to maintaining the highest safety standards in his work to oversee regulated activities and facilities to protect Canadians and our environment.