Managing the risks

The nature of our operations means we face many potential risks and hazards that could have a significant impact on our business. We have comprehensive systems and procedures in place to manage them, but there is no assurance we will be successful in preventing the harm any of these risks and hazards could cause.

Below we list the regulatory, environmental and operational risks that generally apply to all of our operations, development projects and projects under evaluation. We also talk about how we manage specific risks in each operation or project update. These risks could have a material impact on our business in the near term.

We recommend you also review our annual information form, which includes a discussion of other material risks that could have an impact on our business.

Regulatory risks

A significant part of our economic value depends on our ability to:

obtain and renew the licences and other approvals we need to operate, to increase production at our mines and to develop new mines. If we do not receive the regulatory approvals we need, or do not receive them at the right time, then we may have to delay, modify or cancel a project, which could increase our costs and delay or prevent us from generating revenue from the project. Regulatory review, including the review of environmental matters, is a long and complex process.
comply with the conditions in these licences and approvals. In a number of instances, our right to continue operating facilities, increase production at our mines and develop new mines depends on our compliance with these conditions.
comply with the extensive and complex laws and regulations that govern our activities, including our growth plans. Environmental legislation imposes very strict standards and controls on almost every aspect of our operations and the mines we plan to develop, and is not only introducing new requirements, but also becoming more stringent. For example:
- we must complete an environmental assessment before we can begin developing a new mine or make any significant change to our operations
- we increasingly need regulatory approval to make changes to our operational processes, which can take a significant amount of time because it may require an environmental assessment or an extensive review of supporting information. The complexity of this process can be further compounded when regulatory approvals are required from multiple agencies.

We use significant management and financial resources to manage our regulatory risks.

Environmental risks

Lessons learned from Japan

In response to the events in Japan this year, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) asked us to review the risk management and emergency preparedness processes at all of our Canadian sites, under subsection 12(2) of the General Nuclear Safety and Control Regulations.

Our uranium and fuel services divisions retained third-party experts to carry out the reviews, and these were completed and submitted to the CNSC this year.

The evaluations focused on the potential effects of extreme natural events on human health and the environment, and the risk management and emergency preparedness processes we have in place to prevent, mitigate and respond. The review concluded that the multi-layer system we have in place at all of our operations—our five levels of defence—provides multiple and effective barriers against the potential effects of a natural disaster.

We are considering other recommendations we received as we continue to improve our designs, practices, policies and plans to ensure worker and public safety. We do not expect any of the recommendations to require material expenditures.

We have the safety, health and environmental risks associated with any mining and chemical processing company. All three of our business segments also face unique risks associated with radiation.

Laws to protect the environment are becoming more stringent for members of the nuclear energy industry and have inter-jurisdictional aspects (both federal and provincial/state regimes are applicable). Once we have permanently stopped mining and processing activities at an operating site, we are required to decommission the site to the satisfaction of the regulator. We have developed conceptual decommissioning plans for our operating sites and use them to estimate our decommissioning costs. As the site approaches or goes into decommissioning, regulators review our detailed decommissioning plan and carry out the required regulatory approval process. This can result in further regulatory process, as well as additional requirements, costs and financial assurances.

At the end of 2011, our estimate of total decommissioning and reclamation costs was $577 million. This is the undiscounted value of the obligation and is based on our current operations. We had accounting provisions of $509 million at the end of 2011 (the present value of the $577 million). Since we expect to incur most of these expenditures at the end of the useful lives of the operations they relate to, our expected costs for decommissioning and reclamation for the next five years are not material.

We provide financial assurances for decommissioning and reclamation such as letters of credit to regulatory authorities, as required. We had a total of $664 million in letters of credit supporting our reclamation liabilities at the end of 2011. Since 2001, all of our North American operations have had letters of credit in place that provide financial assurance in connection with our preliminary plans for decommissioning for the sites.

Some of the sites we own or operate have been under ongoing investigation and/or remediation and planning as a result of historic soil and groundwater conditions. For example, we are addressing issues related to historic soil and groundwater contamination at Port Hope.

We use significant management and financial resources to manage our environmental risks.

We manage environmental risks through our safety, health, environment and quality (SHEQ) management system. Our SHEQ management system is centralized and managed at the corporate level, and we implement it corporately and at our operations. Our chief executive officer is responsible for ensuring that our SHEQ management system is implemented. Our board's safety, health and environment committee also oversees how we manage our environmental risks.

In 2011, we invested:

$99 million in environmental protection, monitoring and assessment programs, or 30% more than 2010
$30 million in health and safety programs, which is 12% less than we spent in 2010

In 2012, spending for health and safety programs is expected to be similar to 2011, while spending for environmental programs is expected to increase slightly.

Operational risks

Other operational risks and hazards include:

environmental damage
industrial and transportation accidents
labour shortages, disputes or strikes
cost increases for contracted or purchased materials, supplies and services
shortages of required materials, supplies and equipment
transportation disruptions
electrical power interruptions
equipment failures
non-compliance with laws and licences
catastrophic accidents
fires
blockades or other acts of social or political activism
natural phenomena, such as inclement weather conditions, floods and earthquakes
unusual, unexpected or adverse mining or geological conditions
underground floods
ground movement or cave ins
tailings pipeline or dam failures
technological failure of mining methods

We have insurance to cover some of these risks and hazards, but not all of them, and not to the full amount of losses or liabilities that could potentially arise.