Port Radium, Northwest Territories: An evaluation of environmental effects of the uranium and silver tailings

Abstract

Of primary importance in this work was the identification of the locations of uranium mill tailings, or any wastes containing long-lived radionuclides around Port Radium. On the peninsula, depressions were utilized initially for waste disposal during the uranium mining era, as for example Radium Lake and Murphy Lake. Radium Lake has been covered for some time with waste rock and overburden. Since the closure of the silver mine in May 1982, Echo Bay Mines Ltd. has undertaken the covering of most of Murphy Lake with waste rock. The West Adit Tailings Area was the only area identified on land where wastes from the uranium milling operation have collected but remain uncovered. Minor amounts of uranium tailings are found on the rock slope above West Adit and in the spillway of Murphy Creek. About one million tons of uranium mill tailings have been discharged into Murphy Bay, via Murphy Creek and down the slope of West Adit.