Regulators have boarded a ship carrying uranium in B.C. waters, figuring out how to handle a spill of radioactive material in the ship's hold.

The ship left Vancouver just before Christmas, bound for China. It is carrying powdered uranium concentrate from the Saskatchewan mining company Cameco.

But bad weather during the Pacific crossing caused two drums of uranium to spill into the cargo hold, prompting the crew to turn the ship back to British Columbia.

The uranium is safely contained within the ship's hold, Cameco spokesman Rob Gereghty said Monday.

"We're going through an assessment process right now but the hatch was sealed once the uranium was found to be on the floor," Gereghty said. "We requested the ship to come back so that we could assess, secure and remediate the situation."

The ship, the Altona, is currently anchored off Vancouver Island near Ladysmith.

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and Transport Canada are aboard. In a statement, the nuclear regulator said there's "no risk to the environment or public at large."

Uranium concentrate is generally handled the same as other heavy metals such as lead.