The first of three piles of radioactively contaminated soil in Port Hope, Ontario, is being moved from temporary holding sites into long-term storage.
“The first load of historic waste was safely moved from the Centre Pier in Port Hope and placed into long-term storage on June 28,” Bill Daly, spokesman for the Port Hope Area Initiative, said by email Thursday. “This means that the cleanup in the community of Port Hope has now begun.”
Roughly 17,000 cubic meters of waste was stored under a tarp on Center Pier. Another 12,000 cubic meters of waste are stored under similar conditions along Pine Street in Port Hope, along with an additional 2,200 cubic meters now at a sewage treatment plant.
Cleanup of the other two locations is expected to begin later this summer, with all the soil placed in the Long-Term Waste Management Facility at Port Hope by fall. The work is forecast to cost $2.6 million CAD ($1.9 million).
While cleanup at Center Pier had been scheduled to begin in April, that was pushed back to June to allow for more planning, Daly said.
After Center Pier is cleared of contaminated material, it will be used as a staging area for dredging of Port Hope Harbor, Daly said. Roughly 120,000 cubic meters of contaminated sediment is due to be removed from the harbor and placed in the waste management facility. The harbor and pier will also be restored.
Uranium and radium refining operations during the 20th century near Lake Ontario left widespread contamination in Port Hope and nearby Port Granby. The Port Hope Area Initiative, under the aegis of Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, is charged with managing the $1.3 billion (CAD) cleanup of the two communities.
The program is continuing to survey residential properties in Port Hope for radioactive contamination. Of the 4,800 properties that will be checked, nearly 800 have already been found to require some level of cleanup, Daly said. Remediation of the first two locations is due to begin in September.
Prior to residential remediation, each property owner is alerted to the contamination and the approach to removal of that material.
“Once the home owner agrees to the proposed approach, CNL and its contractors will begin the work to remove the waste and restore the property at no cost to the home owner,” Daly said. “CNL will confirm that the property has been cleaned up to stringent criteria through testing and monitoring. Once the property has been confirmed clean, the home owner will receive a compliance letter from CNL.”
The full Port Hope Project is due for completion by 2023, but the end of work could be delayed based on the findings of property testing, he added.
