The fallout from the toxic spill at the Mount Polley gold and copper mine in the British Columbia interior continues.
Two weeks ago a dam failure at the mine, located about 600 kilometres northeast of Vancouver near the town of Likely, sent millions of litres of waste water into a network of salmon-bearing lakes and streams.
The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission is meeting Wednesday in Vancouver to discuss that failure and says it has requested a series of checks at uranium mining and milling operations it oversees. It set a Sept. 15 deadline to complete the inspections.
Canada has four active uranium mines in Saskatchewan and several closed or decommissioned mines in Saskatchewan, the Northwest Territories and Ontario.
The CNSC wants the uranium mining and milling operations to ensure that all necessary inspections and monitoring are in compliance with licence conditions and to confirm that mitigation measures are in place should a tailings pond breach occur at any of the mines.
The ponds contain ground-up uranium ore stored underwater to minimize the escape of dust and radiation and to prevent it from oxidizing.
According to the CNSC, they could contain significant concentrations of radioactive elements such as thorium-230 and radium-226, along with elements produced by their radioactive decay.
On Monday the British Columbia government announced the creation of a three-member panel to investigate of the tailings pond breach at the Mount Polley mine.
The government also ordered other mine companies to conduct safety inspections of their tailings ponds by Dec. 1.
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