Radioactively contaminated soil stored under tarps at three locations in Port Hope, Ontario, will beginning next month be moved into long-term storage, Canada’s Port Hope Area Initiative (PHAI) announced Wednesday.
The low-level radioactive waste is the byproduct of long-retired uranium and radium refining operations in the region near Lake Ontario. The Port Hope Area Initiative is charged with managing the $1.3 billion (CAN) cleanup of Port Hope and nearby Port Granby.
Trucks will first transport waste from the Center Pier to the Long-Term Waste Management Facility, followed by material from the Pine Street North Extension and the municipal sewage treatment plant. The project is scheduled to be completed by spring or summer of this year, according to a PHAI press release.
The Port Hope Project, the larger of two cleanup missions overseen by PHAI, also plans this spring to begin remediation of contaminated residential properties in the municipality. As of early March, 800 contaminated properties had been identified. Residential remediation is expected to wrap up in 2023.
Once all waste has been cleared from the Center Pier, it would be employed as a staging site for cleanup of Port Hope Harbor. That project is anticipated to involve removal and transport of 120,000 cubic meters of contaminated sediment, and then restoration of the harbor and pier.
