Water management is a significant operational focus for Cameco.
In 2015, Cameco discharged approximately 18 million m3 of water; more than half of that was treated process water discharged to the surface water environment in northern Saskatchewan. Cameco discharges water to surface water, groundwater and land.
We do not discharge water from our mining operation in Kazakhstan.
More about water we discharge
Northern Saskatchewan operations
The majority of the water we discharge from our mining and milling facilities in Saskatchewan is water that is actively collected through dewatering of our underground mines and in-pit tailings management facilities. We also collect and treat precipitation that falls onto the sites. A small proportion of the water we treat and discharge is used in our mining and milling processes. We also collect and treat water for use as drinking water, which ends up as sewage.
Ontario operations
At our refining, conversion and fuel manufacturing facilities in Ontario, the majority of the water we discharge is non-contact clean water that we intake and use to cool our fuel conversion plant at the Port Hope Conversion Facility. We maintain a water treatment facility at Blind River for our process effluent discharge. At our other Ontario facilities, the water we use in our processes is discharged as sewage water for treatment by municipal facilities.
United States operations
At our in situ recovery (ISR) operations in the US, we use brackish, non-potable water in our mining operations. We discharge some of this water to deep disposal wells to ensure water is flowing towards the production wells during production and restoration. This maintains an inward hydraulic gradient until restoration is complete. During restoration, groundwater is continuously treated by reverse-osmosis treatment and re-circulated at the ISR operations. The reject water from the treatment plant is also discharged to the deep disposal wells. Discharge to evaporation ponds and irrigation to land are other sources of water discharge at the US ISR operations.
Challenges
Water is an important global resource and we recognize the importance of using and discharging water responsibly to ensure current and future generations have access to it for drinking and other traditional activities (i.e. fishing).
Minimizing the amount of water we move – We handle a significant amount of water at our operations on an annual basis. A small proportion of the water we handle and discharge is used in site processes. We work to minimize the water we handle, using practices like segregation, diversion and seepage reduction.
Ensuring the water we discharge doesn’t harm the environment – We need to ensure the water we discharge doesn’t harm people, land, animals, fish or birds near our operations or in the region we operate in, both over the short and long-term. We work collaboratively with regulators, government, researchers and communities to understand potential impacts, develop best practices and make changes that mitigate potential adverse impacts on the environment. We implement comprehensive monitoring programs at our operations and support regional monitoring programs that are in place where we operate.
Ensuring the safety of our underground operations in water abundant environments – In northern Saskatchewan, our mining operations are faced with the very unique challenge of an over-abundance of water, as they mine underground in places that would ordinarily be filled with water. Preventing water from interfering with production and the safety of our underground operations is of paramount importance for the safety of our workers and the continuation of our operations.
Water is an important global resource and we recognize the importance of using and discharging water responsibly to ensure current and future generations have access to it for drinking and other traditional activities.
Taking Action
We are focused on managing water to minimize potential effects on the health and safety of the public and environment, and we comply with stringent regulatory and internal quality standards. We collaborate with government, regulators, our peers and communities to advance best practice, and to conduct extensive monitoring of the impact of our operations. Results of our water monitoring programs are available to the public on our website, through the Athabasca Working Group, and the Eastern Athabasca Regional Monitoring Program.
To better understand the potential effects of our water discharge and to minimize the way in which our water discharge effects people and the environment, we have implemented several management tools, consistent with our overall management approach.
Environmental risk assessment – we use environmental risk assessment models to understand, analyze and predict potential short and long-term risks to air, water, land, people, animals, birds and fish associated with water discharge. We update the models periodically with the results from our comprehensive monitoring programs to make sure they accurately reflect environmental conditions. With the modelling results, we are able to determine how to conduct or alter current operations to ensure potential adverse effects on the environment are minimized and mitigated.
Objectives and targets – our management approach is to strive to minimize and mitigate the effect of water discharge on the environment. We do this by establishing corporate performance objectives and targets on an annual basis, and by requiring operating sites to establish annual objectives, targets and plans consistent with the corporate objectives and targets, as well as legal and other requirements.
Documented plans and procedures – we establish and implement documented plans and procedures that outline who is responsible to control management and monitoring processes related to water discharge, the equipment, tools and materials involved in the processes, and a summary of the work procedure or instruction that is followed by each person to ensure the water that is discharged meets regulatory and internal quality requirements. These documents ensure that we consistently apply active controls to mitigate potential adverse effects on the environment from water discharge.
Communication – we regularly report the amount and quality of our water discharge to regulators. We also post monthly water quality results from our end-of-release pipe testing at our mine and mill operations in northern Saskatchewan for a variety of constituents of potential concern on our website. These are the same constituents we report on in this report. On our Fuel Services website, we post our quarterly and annual compliance reports, that include information on water discharge.
Water segregation and diversion – the best way to keep water clean is to keep it from coming into contact with our processes. Where possible, practical and economical, we divert water or otherwise keep it from contacting radioactive materials or mineralized rock. In some cases, these clean water streams are collected and discharged by us, while in other cases we divert the water completely around our operations. By doing this, we reduce the amount of water we handle and ultimately need to treat and discharge.
Seepage reduction – in our underground mines in northern Saskatchewan, we need to actively collect water that flows into the underground mines from the surrounding rock structures and pump it out to mitigate the risk of water inflow. Some techniques we use to minimize the amount of water that flows into the mines include ground freezing, pressure grouting, shotcrete and cable bolts. By reducing the amount of water that comes into the mine, we reduce the amount of water we need to dewater and, subsequently, discharge.
Water treatment – all of our process water is treated and discharged in accordance with our operating approvals. We use conventional and non-conventional water treatment, such as reverse osmosis and management processes, to ensure water is safe before it is released to the environment. We’ve made significant investments to improve the quality of water we release to the environment, and continue to do so. As a result, we’ve seen significant reductions in molybdenum, selenium and uranium in treated water discharged from our Saskatchewan mining and milling operations to surface water bodies.
Monitoring and measurement – at all our sites, we have comprehensive environmental monitoring programs that include regular sampling, testing and reporting of discharge water, surface water and groundwater. Sampling occurs at internal points of control prior to discharge to ensure management processes are working effectively at the discharge location, and at locations downstream. We also complete daily inspections to make sure equipment is working correctly. We are currently improving our corporate wide environmental database that provides comprehensive storage of environmental information to ensure that everyone has access to the information they need.
At our northern Saskatchewan mine and mill sites, we monitor other elements of the aquatic ecosystem such as fish and sediment on a regular basis to ensure we are not causing undue risk to the environment. In addition to our own programs, we support two independent monitoring groups in northern Saskatchewan – the Athabasca environmental monitoring program and Eastern Athabasca regional monitoring program. These two groups represent the interest of our northern Saskatchewan residents.
Corrective action – we implement a rigorous corrective action process to investigate and address the root causes of non-conformance to regulatory requirements and internal quality standards. The process includes the tracking and classification of the non-conformance, appropriate level of investigation, dependent on incident significance, and summary of recommended actions to prevent and mitigate similar occurrences.
Audit – we undergo external audit of our programs, processes and procedures, including our environmental management, wastewater management and water monitoring programs. These audits are carried out on an annual basis by third parties and measure our performance against regulatory requirements and internal quality standards. We also maintain and implement internal audit programs at our corporate office and at all operating sites. Results and recommendations from this systematic, independent and documented process are presented to senior management, who are responsible for implementing them and correcting any deficiencies.
Performance indicators – we maintain internal environmental key performance indicators (KPIs) to track our progress towards corporate and site objectives and targets. Our corporate KPIs include a focus on water discharged from our northern Saskatchewan mine and mill sites, and groundwater restoration at our US mining operations.
