Canadian Nuclear Laboratories Ltd. (“CNL”) recently awarded a $98 million clean-up of radioactive contamination in Port Hope, Ontario. The contract for the Port Hope Area Initiative (“PHAI”) Long-Term Waste Management Facility (“LTWMF”) was awarded to a joint venture company of ECC/Quantum Murray LLP.
The contract involves the construction of the remaining storage cells at the LTWMF. ECC/QM, LP will also operate the facility during the upcoming cleanup of historic low-level radioactive waste in Port Hope.
The Town of Port Hope is located approximately a 1-hour drive east of Toronto. The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) is overseeing the clean-up of historic low-level radioactive waste that originated from the Eldorado radium extraction facility that first started operations in the town in 1932.
Eldorado Nuclear Ltd. was a company wholly owned by the Canadian Government. In 1988, Eldorado Nuclear and the Saskatchewan Mining Company were amalgamated and privatized to form Cameco.
There are 4,800 properties in Port Hope that have been checked for low-level radioactive waste. Based on previous information, it was estimated that about 400 to 450 residential properties require cleanup. The PHAI is a federal environmental clean-up program. Its mandate is the remediation and local, long-term, safe management of 1.2 million cubic metres low-level radioactive waste in Port Hope and the nearby town of Port Granby.
The clean-up of radioactive material will be one of the largest remediation projects in Ontario, Canada. The project includes the excavation and placement of Low Level Radioactive Waste (“LLRW”) from the existing Welcome Waste Management Facility, as well as receipt and placement of LLRW from the remediation of various sites throughout the Municipality of Port Hope, and final closure of the facility.
ECC/QM, LP constructed the first cell of the aboveground mound at the Port Hope LTWMF. The joint venture company has now won three contracts from CNL at Port Hope.
