Remediation of radioactively contaminated municipalities in Ontario, Canada, has been knocked off schedule by the COVID-19 pandemic, but organizers hope to claw back time as work ramps up in coming months.
In March, Canadian Nuclear Laboratories halted nearly all field operations under the Port Hope Area Initiative (PHAI), just ahead of the program’s annual construction season.
“The overall PHAI project schedule has already been impacted by the work slowdown caused by the pandemic,” spokesman Bill Daly said by email Thursday. “We are working with our federal government partners and our contractors to identify the impacts to our project schedule and we are diligently planning ways we can recover from this unexpected situation.”
Resumption of work will happen in line with guidance from the federal and provincial governments, along with public health agencies and Canadian Nuclear Laboratories’ health and safety specialists, Daly added. It will involve new safety measures, including social distancing, decontamination of gear, and use of additional personal protective equipment.
The $1.3 billion CAD program covers cleanup of radioactive contamination in Port Hope and Clarington, both along Lake Ontario. The contamination is the byproduct of uranium and radium refining in Port Hope from 1933 to 1988.
The Port Hope Project is the larger of the two jobs, covering remediation and long-term storage of 1.2 million cubic meters of low-level radioactive waste. Work began in 2011 and is scheduled for completion in 2025, at which time thousands of tons of contaminated sediment will have been removed from Port Hope Harbor and nearly 5,000 private properties remediated – primarily through removal of contaminated soil.
The Port Granby Project in Clarington involves transferring roughly 450,000 cubic meters of low-level waste and some less-contaminated soil from one facility into a new above-ground engineered mound. Waste transport is scheduled to be complete this summer, followed by final construction and capping off the facility in 2021, according to Daly.
The 2020 construction season in Port Hope was intended to involve removing contaminated sediment from Port Hope Harbor; readying waste excavation from the Center Pier; continued radiological testing and remediation of residential properties; and transport of waste to storage.
The work stoppage aligns with similar drawdowns at U.S. nuclear cleanup sites, intended to promote social distancing to curb the spread of novel coronavirus 2019. Field services have largely been limited to “essential” security and water management operations, Scott Parnell, general manager of CNL’s Historic Waste Program, said in an April 30 video message.
At the time, Parnell said it would be several weeks before on-site work resumed.
“Even then, when we return we’ll need to move forward cautiously and ramp up construction activities in a safe and measured way,” he said. “We anticipate there will be further delays and some planned work may not happen until next construction season. Our teams are working hard now to assess the changes in schedules and develop strategies on how we can ramp up safely when needed.”
Daly indicated that the “safe and gradual return to work” for hundreds of CNL staff, contractors, and subcontractors would begin in the next few weeks nad continue over a period of months. That will encompass resuming transport of waste to long-term facilities built for both Port Hope and Port Granby, increased production at wastewater plants, and site characterization for cleanup of contaminated residential properties.
The restart begins with work deemed low risk and will increase over time, Daly added.
“We also understand that our contractors are eager to resume operations and that their employees want to go back to work,” he wrote. “CNL is carefully planning for the gradual return to field and construction work, and we continue to work closely with our contractors to ensure all necessary safety protocols are in place. Over the next few months, we will gradually be increasing our project operations and bringing people back to work in the field.”
