The imminent arrival of the remnants of Saddam Hussein's nuclear program in Port Hope, Ont., has sparked renewed controversy in a community that has been refining uranium since the Second World War.

Facilities in Port Hope will refine more than 500 tonnes of "yellowcake" uranium — the seed material for higher-grade nuclear enrichment.

Refining uranium keeps a lot of people working in Port Hope, but has also made parts of the town radioactive.

Nuclear safety advocate and former town councillor John Morand said he isn't just worried about more uranium headed to Port Hope, but is also concerned about angering other residents.

"The community is split, and has been split for years over the value of jobs versus the concern of the contamination of the water table and the contamination into the air," he said.

The huge stockpile of concentrated natural uranium reached Montreal on Saturday in a top-secret journey that included a two-week airlift from Baghdad and a voyage across two oceans.

The Iraqi government sold the yellowcake to Canadian uranium producer, Cameco Corp., in a transaction one official described as worth "tens of millions of dollars."

The company operates two plants in the Port Hope area, making it one of the community's major employers.

Cameco spokeswoman Lyle Krahn would not comment on the terms of the deal, but said the material will be processed at the company's Ontario plants for use in energy-producing reactors.

"I think the benefits to Cameco is that, again, taking the opportunity to take the material from an outside source that is stable to ultimately produce clean electricity," Krahn said.

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Board shut down one of the company's Port Hope refineries last July. Uranium, arsenic and fluorides had been leaking into the groundwater, likely for decades, but the company only admitted it last year.

With files from the Associated Press