Uranium City is a northern settlement in

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North ...

, Canada. Located on the northern shores of

Lake Athabasca Lake Athabasca (; French: ''lac Athabasca''; from Woods Cree: , " herethere are plants one after another") is located in the north-west corner of Saskatchewan and the north-east corner of Alberta between 58° and 60° N in Canada. The lake ...

near the border of the

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...

, it is above sea level. The settlement is northwest of

Prince Albert Prince Albert most commonly refers to: *Albert, Prince Consort (1819–1861), consort of Queen Victoria *Albert II, Prince of Monaco (born 1958), present head of state of Monaco Prince Albert may also refer to: Royalty * Albert I of Belgium ...

, northeast of

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city anc ...

and south of the Northwest Territories-Saskatchewan boundary. For census purposes, it is located within the province's Division No. 18 territory.

History

In 1949,

athabascaite Athabascaite is a member of the copper selenide minerals, and forms with other copper selenides. It was first discovered by S. Kaiman in 1949 while he was researching radioactive materials around Lake Athabasca. Kaiman was conducting research nea ...

was discovered by S. Kaiman while he was researching

radioactive materials A radionuclide (radioactive nuclide, radioisotope or radioactive isotope) is a nuclide that has excess nuclear energy, making it unstable. This excess energy can be used in one of three ways: emitted from the nucleus as gamma radiation; transferr ...

around Lake Athabasca near Uranium City. In 1952, the provincial government decided to establish a community to service the mines in the

Beaverlodge Beaverlodge is a town in northern Alberta, Canada. It is located on Highway 43, west of Grande Prairie and east of the British Columbia border. History The town was named for the Beaverlodge River, which was known as ''Uz-i-pa'' ("temp ...

uranium Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weakly ...

area developed by Eldorado Mining and Refining, a federal

crown corporation A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the governmen ...

. In 1954, the local newspaper, ''The Uranium Times'', noted that 52 mines were operating and 12 open-pit mines were next to Beaverlodge Lake.Fission Avenue: Uranium City "Beaverlodge"
/ref> Initially, most of the residences in Uranium City were simply tents. Some of the mines operating in the area included the Gunnar Mine, the Lorado Mine, and the Fay-Ace-Verna Mine in Eldorado, Saskatchewan. Two options were considered for communities in the region: small communities near the mine site or larger more centralized communities with adequate services. Not wanting to replicate some of the problems associated with small mining towns at the time in

Northern Ontario Northern Ontario is a primary geographic and quasi-administrative region of the Canadian province of Ontario, the other primary region being Southern Ontario. Most of the core geographic region is located on part of the Superior Geological Prov ...

, the government pushed for the second option and modelled Uranium City after the community of Arvida, Quebec. In 1956, the provincial government passed the ''Municipal Corporation of Uranium City and District Act'', creating a unique, chartered "district" with authority over education, health, and welfare. The population of Uranium City started to grow significantly only once Eldorado Resources made a deliberate initiative in 1960 to see staff housed in Uranium City instead of the Eldorado campsite. After reaching a population of 2,507 in 1981, the closure of the mines in 1982 led to economic collapse, with most residents of the community leaving. The ''Uranium City Act'' was repealed on 1 October 1983, reducing the community to an unincorporated "northern settlement". The local hospital closed in the spring of 2003. Its population in 2016 was 73, including a number of

Métis The Métis ( ; Canadian ) are Indigenous peoples who inhabit Canada's three Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the Northern United States. They have a shared history and culture which deri ...

and

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: ** First Nat ...

people.Fission Avenue: Uranium City Pg2
/ref>

Demographics

In the

2021 Census of Population The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...

conducted by Statistics Canada, Uranium City had a population of 91 living in 41 of its 59 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 73. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Transportation

The community has a certified airport,

Uranium City Airport Uranium City Airport is located east of Uranium City, Saskatchewan, Canada. It is classified as a Code 2 airport. The airport was built by Eldorado Mining and Refining Limited in the 1950s to support the growing mining operations around Ura ...

, that features a treated gravel runway of operated by the Saskatchewan Ministry of Highways and Infrastructure. The airport is one of the few employers left in the community. West Wind Aviation previously served Uranium City with flights to

and

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Yellowhead Highway, and has served as ...

three times a week. Norcanair served the community with scheduled flights until it ceased operations in 2005. Transwest Air also provided a route with Saskatoon and Regina until that company cancelled its service in November 2008. It now serves Uranium City with a flight from Saskatoon that stops in Prince Albert, Points North and Stony Rapids. There is also a small water aerodrome located next to Uranium City. There is no normal road access connecting Uranium City with the rest of Canada. There is provision for a

winter road A winter road is a seasonal road only usable during the winter, i.e. it has to be re-built every year. This road typically runs over land and over frozen lakes, rivers, swamps, and sea ice.Proskin et al, 2011. Guidelines for the Construction an ...

which connects with

Fond-du-Lac Fond du Lac Dene Nation ( chp, Gánį Kóé) is a Dene First Nation located in the boreal forest area of northern Saskatchewan, Canada. The main settlement is Fond-du-Lac, situated on the east side of Lake Athabasca. It is a remote fly-i ...

Saskatchewan Highway 962 Highway 962 is an isolated provincial highway in the far north part of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. For part of the year the highway is not connected to any other highway in the province, but during the winter months a winter road fo ...

provides travel for a short distance within the local area. A significant bridge replacement project on Highway 962 was conducted in 2001 at the Fredette River.

Communications

Local telephone service is provided by

SaskTel Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corporation, operating as SaskTel, is a Canadian crown-owned telecommunications firm based in the province of Saskatchewan. Owned by the provincial government, it provides wireline and wireless communicat ...

and was first available in Uranium City on 30 November 1955. Current telephone numbers for international calling are of the form +1 306 498 xxxx ( NPA-NXX: 306–498, CLLI: URCYSK05DS0).

Canada Post Canada Post Corporation (french: Société canadienne des postes), trading as Canada Post (french: Postes Canada), is a Crown corporations of Canada, Crown corporation that functions as the primary Postal administration, postal operator in Canada ...

continues to deliver mail to the community. The post office is located at the municipal office (

Postal Code A postal code (also known locally in various English-speaking countries throughout the world as a postcode, post code, PIN or ZIP Code) is a series of letters or digits or both, sometimes including spaces or punctuation, included in a postal ...

: S0J 2W0). Radio broadcasting in the community is provided by: * 97.9 FM – VF2142 – rebroadcasts CKRW-FM * 99.9 or 101.1 FM – Missinipi Broadcasting Corporation * 103.1 FM – VF2240 – rebroadcasts CFMI-FM * 105.1 FM – CBDH-FM,

CBC Radio One CBC Radio One is the English-language news and information radio network of the publicly owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It is commercial-free and offers local and national programming. It is available on AM and FM to 98 percent of ...

, rebroadcasting CBKA-FM La Ronge. Until 2012, television service was provided by CBKAT operating on channel 8 at a power of 15 watts. This was a rebroadcast of

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French- ...

service from

CBKST CBKST, VHF analogue channel 11, was a CBC Television owned-and-operated station licensed to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, which operated from 1971 to 2012. The station was owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. CBKST's master contro ...

. Until 2003, the local transmitter's television programming originated from

CBC North CBC North ( iu, ᓰᐲᓰ ᐅᑭᐅᖅᑕᖅᑐᒥ, lit=CBC Northwest, translit=, SiiPiiSii Ukiuqtaqtumi; cr, ᓰᐲᓰ ᒌᐌᑎᓅᑖᐦᒡ, label=cr, SiiPiiSii Chiiwetinuutaahch; french: Radio-Canada Nord) is the Canadian Broadcasting Corpora ...

. This repeater was one of 620 analog television signals nationwide shut down by the CBC on 31 July 2012 due to budget cuts.

Climate

Uranium City is part of the Taiga Shield Ecozone and experiences a subarctic climate ( Köppen ''Dfc'') with long, cold, snowy winters, brief transitional periods, and short, cool, and humid summers. The temperature range is typically large due to frigidly cold winter temperatures that often plunge below . The highest temperature ever recorded in the settlement was on 30 June 2021 during the

2021 Western North America heat wave The 2021 Western North America heat wave was an extreme heat wave that affected much of Western North America from late June through mid-July 2021. Rapid attribution analysis found this was a 1000-year weather event, made 150 times more likely ...

Wind chill Wind chill or windchill (popularly wind chill factor) is the lowering of body temperature due to the passing-flow of lower-temperature air. Wind chill numbers are always lower than the air temperature for values where the formula is valid. When ...

factors are prominent as well in the winter months, making the cold temperatures seem to be much colder than they actually are. Uranium City has recorded one of the coldest wind chill factors of any Canadian location, with wind chill reading being recorded on 28 January 2002. Additionally, an average of 34 days a year record wind chill readings below . The lowest temperature ever recorded in the settlement was on 15 January 1974 and on 7 February 2021.

Education

Education in Uranium City is under the authority of th
Northern Lights School Division #113
a school district that covers most of northern Saskatchewan. The only remaining school in Uranium City is Ben McIntyre School, serving classes from

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cent ...

to Grade 9. The school opened in 1977 and is named after the first teacher in Uranium City who established the first school in the community in 1952 with 40 students in ten grades. As of September 2005, 10 students were enrolled. Secondary education was provided by CANDU High School, named after a

nuclear reactor A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a fission nuclear chain reaction or nuclear fusion reactions. Nuclear reactors are used at nuclear power plants for electricity generation and in nuclear marine propulsion. Heat from nu ...

. According to travellers Vincent Chan and Tricia Holopina who visited the city in 2002, locals state that the school was opened in 1979 and closed in 1983 after only three years of service, with the building since sustaining extensive vandalism.Fission Avenue: Uranium City "Candu High"
/ref>

Notable people

The following people are associated with Uranium City by birth, residence or career: *

Bert Burry Herbert Hadley Burry (February 7, 1906 – July 13, 1999) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player who played four games in the National Hockey League with the Ottawa Senators during the 1932–33 season. Born in Toronto, Ontario, he ma ...

, pilot and ice hockey player * Gina Kingsbury, member of gold medal-winning Canadian women's ice hockey team at the 2006 Winter Olympics * Gilbert LaBine, a founder of the Gunnar Mine

References

{{authority control Designated places in Saskatchewan Division No. 18, Unorganized, Saskatchewan Mining communities in Saskatchewan Northern settlements in Saskatchewan Road-inaccessible communities of Saskatchewan Lake Athabasca