Digging into Nova Scotia's uranium ban — and what may come next

When Premier Tim Houston recently raised the idea of reconsidering the province's ban on uranium exploration, the suggestion may have left some people scratching their heads.

After all, it's practically ancient history. Nova Scotia has had a moratorium on exploration for nearly 45 years, and an outright ban for more than 15 years. Some younger residents may not know a thing about the issue.

So what's all the fuss about? How did we get to this point, and what could come next?

Although uranium-bearing minerals were identified in Nova Scotia as far back as the early 20th century, there were only sporadic exploration efforts made before 1976.

But when the Geological Survey of Canada released a study that year showing promise for exploration, companies rushed to stake their claims. The amount of land covered by uranium exploration licences more than doubled by the following year to cover more than 800,000 hectares in Nova Scotia.

The frenzy was exacerbated by Europe's interest in new energy sources. Uranium is used in the nuclear energy industry, as well as for nuclear weapons and in medicine.

Marilyn Manzer was living on a farm in Lower Burlington, N.S., when she heard that a French company wanted to mine uranium at the headwaters of the nearby Avon River in Hants County.

"We didn't know anything about uranium at the time. We decided to start investigating it."

Local residents formed a group called Citizen Action to Protect the Environment. Members networked with scientists, doctors and activists, with some spending hours in university libraries poring over scientific periodicals to understand the latest developments. 

Public concern led the province to launch an inquiry into the industry.

Forty-four public meetings were held throughout the province, and the vast majority of speakers voiced opposition to uranium exploration and mining.

Residents and organizations raised concerns about the potential for damaging health effects due to radioactivity, the impact on miners' health, contamination of water and air, the potential for a tailings pond or dam leak, and the effect on agriculture and wildlife, among other issues.

"It was pretty intense," Manzer says. "The people who came to the meetings were very seriously concerned about the health and environmental dangers to Nova Scotia from this practice. And a lot of people came because they wanted to learn about it. And then when they did learn about it, they got active, and started agitating to try and get it stopped."

In 1981, public pressure prompted the provincial government to declare a moratorium on uranium exploration and mining, and in 2009 the NDP government legislated a full ban.