CANADIAN EMERGENCY RESPONSE REQUIREMENTS AND CAMECO’S EXPERIENCE

Cameco Corporation based out of Saskatoon is a world leader in the mining of uranium and it’s processing. Cameco transports and receives front end nuclear fuel cycle material from many locations around the world. Within Canada there exists a regulatory requirement for Cameco to provide assistance in the event of a transport incident involving not only the products shipped by Cameco but also product destined for Cameco. This requirement is part of the Federal government of Canada’s Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act and Regulation and is referred to as an Emergency Response Assistance Plan (or ERAP). The assistance provided may range in nature from information given over the telephone to the immediate deployment of a trained team of emergency responders. This paper will outline the regulatory requirements that exist in Canada and the efforts that have been undertaken by Cameco to provide assistance to public response agencies. Examples of actual transport incidents and the lessons learned are presented in the paper. Given the vast and remote geography of Canada, coupled with the possibility of extreme weather conditions, Cameco faces a variety of challenges in responding to transport incidents. As such Cameco depends on third party contractors to support efforts in reaching and assisting with the initial response and subsequent clean up efforts. The training and management of this network of for-hire emergency responders is essential to providing timely, safe and vital emergency response. Additionally, and since 2003, Cameco has conducted an outreach program to provide training to public first response agencies and others along the main transport corridors in an effort to familiarize them with Cameco’s products and what support to expect from Cameco. These efforts have proven to be beneficial and critical in several incidents.