Cluff Lake decommissioning project - planning and current status

The Cluff Lake Project, owned and operated by AREVA/COGEMA Resources Inc., is a uranium mining and milling facility in northern Saskatchewan, which commenced operation in 1980. The decommissioning plan for the Cluff Lake Project received regulatory approval in 2004, following a Comprehensive Study under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act. The plan involves soil covers for an above-ground tailings area and a waste rock pile, completing the backfilling of an open pit with waste rock and flooding of two other open pits and of two underground mines. A large mill and associated infrastructure will also be demolished and disposed within the backfilled pit. Several alternative methods were considered for the decommissioning of each of the major areas. Success of the decommissioning will be judged by comparison to objectives established through the environmental assessment process. A comprehensive follow up program has been developed to monitor the key aspects, to demonstrate that the planning assumptions were appropriate and to ensure decommissioning will perform as designed. This paper summarizes the planning for decommissioning, and describes the current status and subsequent monitoring program. (author)