The federal government, through the Port Hope Area Initiative (PHAI), is investing $1.28 billion over a 10-year period to remediate low-level radioactive waste in Ontario's Port Hope area.
The funding will be used to clean up 1.7 million cubic metres of historic low-level radioactive waste within the municipalities of Port Hope and Clarington.
The waste, which is currently being stored at waste management facilities and other sites in Port Hope and Clarington, came from radium and uranium processing in Port Hope between 1933 and 1988 by the former federal Crown corporation Eldorado Nuclear Limited and its private-sector predecessors.
The funding will be used for two projects: the Port Hope Project and the Port Granby Project. The former project will address waste in Port Hope, while the latter will focus on waste in southeast Clarington.
Each project involves the construction of a new long-term waste management facility and supporting infrastructure, the cleanup and restoration of contaminated sites, and long-term monitoring and maintenance of the facilities.
The PHAI, based on a 2001 legal agreement between the federal government and the municipalities of Port Hope and Clarington to carry out the cleanup, is a joint initiative of Natural Resources Canada, Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, and Public Works and Government Services Canada.
This news item first appeared in EcoLog News (1/20/12). To learn how to subscribe, visit www.ecolog.com