Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) has terminated one of the primary contracts for remediation of radioactive contamination at Port Hope, Ontario.
As of June 30, Ottawa-based Milestone Environmental Contracting will no longer be in charge of cleanup of Port Hope Harbor and the Center Pier under the Port Hope Area Initiative, according to a press release Tuesday from CNL.
The privately operated science and technology organization declined to discuss the cause of the contract termination. “CNL will not be providing additional information beyond that included in the media release,” spokeswoman Shernette Muccuth Henry said by email.
Milestone did not respond to a query by deadline Friday for RadWaste Monitor.
A new contractor is expected to be hired in time for the 2021 construction season beginning next spring, Canadian Nuclear Laboratories said. Construction has been on hold since March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The $1.3 billion (CAD) Port Hope Area Initiative covers various cleanup jobs in Port Hope and Clarington, both along Lake Ontario. The radioactive contamination is the result of uranium and radium refining in Port Hope from 1933 to 1988.
In August 2018, Milestone received a five-year, $95 million (CAD) contract for work at Port Hope Harbor and Center Pier. The jobs encompassed refurbishing the harbor’s deteriorating walls and the pier, along with suction dredging about 120,000 cubic meters of sediment contaminated by low-level radioactive waste. That will remain the mission of the next contractor.
“Work completed to date includes the installation of a wave attenuator and turbidity curtain, as well as other preparatory work for dredging, including repairs to some of the harbour walls,” Henry wrote. “Mechanical dredging began with removal of large obstructions at the end of October 2019 and was paused during the winter period.”
Hiring a new vendor is expected to delay completion of this work by one year, to 2024, Henry stated.
Milestone remains on the job for restoration at a number of residential properties in Port Hope, which is scheduled to be completed this summer. In total, the Port Hope Area Initiative will remediate about 5,000 private properties, mostly via removal of contaminated soil.
Field work is resuming at the Port Hope Area Initiative, according to the latest project update. Canadian Nuclear Laboratories is following a four-part plan for remobilization: preparation and planning; isolated activities, mostly outdoors; moderate operations, including indoor work; and “new normal operations,” in which the value of the work exceeds potential risk. The schedule of advancing through the phases will be determined by factors including the COVID-19 situation in the localities and Ontario, guidance from provincial and government authorities, and directives from Canadian Nuclear Laboratories.
“CNL had a full construction season of work planned at private properties and municipally owned larger sites this year. With the shutdown period and new restrictions related to workforce size as a result of the pandemic, some planned work will likely not happen until next construction season,” Henry stated. “CNL will continue to look for efficiencies to shorten the project timeline where possible, while meeting all new safety requirements.”
Nuclear Waste Management Organization Remobilizing
Meanwhile, Canada’s Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) has also started reopening facilities that have been closed since March to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus 2019.
The Toronto-based nonprofit organization is charged with siting, building, and operating a deep geologic repository for permanent disposal of 5.2 million bundles of spent fuel from Canada’s nuclear power plants. Its offices have been closed since March, with employees working remotely.
The first site to reopen, on June 8, was the Oakville proof test facility outside of Toronto. The 26,000-square-foot facility is used for design and testing of the technologies to be used in the organization’s disposal program. It houses four NWMO employees, plus contract personnel.
“We decided to re-open the Oakville facility first because our project work includes physical experiments that cannot be done remotely by the team and our industry partners,” NWMO Director of Engineering Chris Boyle said in a press release. “The facility’s large space with equipment that can be remotely or individually operated means we can maintain physical distancing.”
Scheduled to reopen next week are two information centers near the two communities still being considered to hold the disposal facility – Ignace in northern Ontario and South Bruce in southern Ontario, according to NWMO spokeswoman Ana-Maria Critchley.
The NWMO headquarters in Toronto will take more time, due to the size of its roughly 180-person staff and the complexity of the office, Critchley stated by email. The headquarters operation covers several floors of one building, meaning use of elevators. A larger percentage of staff also use transit to get to and from work.
Field work has also been on hold for months. The first borehole is expected to be drilled this fall in South Bruce, after which drilling will resume in Ignace, Critchley stated. Boreholes are drilled to gather samples to provide data about the geology of regions being considered for disposal.
The NWMO expects to complete site selection in 2023. Building the deep-underground disposal facility is expected to last 10 years, followed by 40 years of waste emplacement.
