Recent testing at four houses in Elliot Lake reveal elevated levels of gamma radiation and concentrations of radon gas far exceeding safety guidelines. There could be up to 60 homes in the community currently on top of mine waste, documents allege.
A cluster of homes in Elliot Lake sits atop a deadly secret. Radioactive tailings from long-closed mines in northern Ontario –– which produced uranium for atomic bombs –– were allegedly used as infill when the subdivision was established decades ago, emitting gamma rays and poisonous gasses into and around people’s homes.
The dangers have long since been forgotten and the mine has been shut down. Recent testing at four houses in the area, however, reveals that there are still elevated levels of gamma radiation and concentrations of radon gas far exceeding safety guidelines, according to thousands of documents shared exclusively with the Investigative Journalism Bureau (IJB) and the Toronto Star.
An expert who reviewed multiple tests collected at the properties between 2016 and 2022 estimates residents are receiving annual doses of radiation between 8 and 32 times greater than the maximum prescribed by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.
There could be up to 60 homes in the community currently on top of mine waste, the documents allege.
“The bottom line is that these radiation doses, both the alpha radiation from radon and the gamma radiation emanations from the source material, are above background and in the range where they certainly could have an impact on health over the long term,” said Aaron Goodarzi, an associate professor at the University of Calgary’s Cumming School of Medicine and the Canada Research Chair for Radiation Exposure Disease, after reviewing the test results for the IJB and Star.
For the rest of this article: https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2023/06/15/they-thought-theyd-found-an-affordable-place-to-live-they-were-never-told-about-the-radioactive-mining-waste.html