2002/93 (a)

BACKGROUNDER

ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENTS FOR THE
PORT HOPE AREA INITIATIVE

On March 29, 2001, the Government of Canada, represented by the Minister of Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), and the municipalities of Port Hope (formerly the Town of Port Hope and the Township of Hope) and Clarington signed a legal agreement for the cleanup and long-term management of local historic low-level radioactive wastes. Eldorado Nuclear Limited, a former Crown corporation, produced the wastes at its Port Hope refinery beginning in the 1930s.

With this agreement, the Government of Canada began a 10-year, $260-million initiative to evaluate and implement a long-term solution for this environmental problem. The initiative will be carried out in three phases. The first phase will involve the environmental assessment of the proposed projects and subsequent regulatory review. The next phase will involve the cleanup of the wastes, developing new management facilities and containing the wastes in the facilities, followed by a phase of long-term monitoring.

The projects proposed under the initiative must undergo environmental assessments under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act (CEAA). The following assessments will be conducted:

• the Port Hope Project, which involves the cleanup and long-term management of historic and certain industrial wastes in the Municipality of Port Hope; and,
• the Port Granby Project, which involves the cleanup and long-term management of historic wastes relating to the Port Granby Facility in the Municipality of Clarington.

NRCan, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and Fisheries and Oceans Canada have the authority to make decisions on the projects and are therefore considered responsible authorities under the CEAA. The responsible authorities have delegated the conduct of the studies for the assessments to the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management Office (LLRWMO), the designated proponent for the project. However, the responsible authorities must still ensure that the assessments are carried out in accordance with the CEAA and determine whether the projects are likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects.

The responsible authorities prepared scope documents to guide the LLRWMO on the studies and activities required for the environmental assessments. Draft scope documents for both the Port Hope and Port Granby projects were released for public comment on February 25, 2002. The original 30-day comment period was extended by 15 days and ended on April 11, 2002. The responsible authorities received 57 comments in response to the scope consultations, and considered all comments prior to finalizing the scope documents. These comments, as well as a written response by the responsible authorities that addresses major issues raised during the public consultation, are on the public registry for each project.

Copies of the scope documents for the environmental assessment of the Port Hope and Port Granby projects are available on NRCan’s Web site at http://nuclear.nrcan.gc.ca.

For more information, media may contact:

Heather Bala
Director of Communications
Office of the Minister
Natural Resources Canada
Ottawa
(613) 996-7252