Canada’s RAP Progress Report 2003

Port Hope Harbour

Port Hope Harbour is located at the mouth of the Ganaraska River on the north shore of Lake Ontario 100 kilometres east of Toronto. The Town of Port Hope is built on rising land north of the harbour. The AOC includes the harbour area and extends 300 metres from the lower Ganaraska River to the confluence area bounded by breakwalls. Presently the harbour is used as a receiving waterbody for cooling waters from Cameco Corporation a uranium conversion facility. Historically, Port Hope harbour was a major Great Lakes port: today, the harbour serves as a boat mooring area for the local yacht club.

IMPAIRMENTS

Eldorado Nuclear Limited, a federal Crown corporation and its private sector predecessors, generated radioactive wastes at its Port Hope refinery beginning in 1933. Low-level Radioactive Wastes (LLRW) were initially stockpiled or disposed in ravines and vacant lots in Port Hope. During the 1940s and 50s LLRWs were placed in waste management facilities in the nearby Township of Hope and in the Municipality of Clarington, near the Hamlet of Port Granby. There is an estimated 1 to 1.5 million cubic metres of LLRW and contaminated soils in the area. The immediate health and safety risks have been assessed as minimal. In recent years, leaching of radioactive wastes and overflow of drainage ponds at these facilities during heavy rains has been observed and contamination has entered the local groundwater and Lake Ontario.

Port Hope Harbour was designated an AOC due to restriction of dredging activities. There are no other impaired beneficial uses. Most of the contaminant input to the harbour occur red between 1933 and 1953 resulting from operations and waste management practices of the Eldorado refinery. Process wastes were stored at the site and it is likely that surface run-off was the route of contamination for the harbour. An estimated 85000-90000 cubic metres of sediment containing low-level radioactive material is located within the turning basin and west slip of the harbour. The contaminants include uranium and thorium series radionuclides, heavy metals, and PCBs. The contamination of the sediments halted the maintenance dredging in this area. It was determined that continued sedimentation would leave the turning basin inoperative as a boat mooring facility. To continue the operation of the harbour, the sediment must be removed.

ACHIEVEMENT

In March 2001, the Government of Canada, represented by Natural Resources Canada, and the three communities of the Town of Port Hope, the Township of Hope and the Municipality of Clarington, entered into a legal agreement for the clean-up and long-term management of local historic LLRW, including radioactive wastes found within Port Hope Harbour. The legal agreement is based on community-developed concepts for the local, long-term management of the wastes. With the signing of the legal agreement, the Government of Canada began the 10-year, $260M Port Hope Area Initiative, to develop and implement a long-term solution. Since that time, the Town of Port Hope and the Township of Hope have been amalgamated into one community, the Municipality of Port Hope.

PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT

Public perception of the risks posed by LLRW in the Port Hope area and the concerns about long-term safety brought considerable pressure on the federal government outside of the RAP context. In 1982, the federal government created the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management Office to discharge its responsibilities for the management of historic wastes in Port Hope and throughout Canada. The office in Port Hope assisted the RAP in developing the preliminary estimates for cleanup. Currently, the office handles public information requests and offers assistance to residents to assess and remediate their properties. The Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management Office has been designated by Natural Resources Canada as the proponent of the Port Hope Area Initiative.

RECENT AND FUTURE ACTIVITIES

The implementation of the legal agreement for the Port Hope cleanup will be carried out in four phases. The first two phases, now underway, require the site characterization and environmental assessment of the proposed facility, and subsequent regulatory review. The third phase expected to take five years, involves removing the wastes, including those found in the harbour, constructing new management facilities and emplacing the wastes. The final phase provides for maintenance and long-term monitoring beyond 2011.

The agreement includes a hosting fee of $10M to each of the three communities where the LLRW are located. The community-developed concepts propose to establish long-term radioactive waste facilities in each of the communities to properly contain the wastes and the hosting fee is intended to enable the municipalities to address impacts associated with the long-term facilities. A property value protection program for residents has also been set up in accordance with the agreement.

In November 2001, the environmental assessment of the Port Hope Area Initiative was initiated as two projects based on current municipal boundaries; the Port Hope Project and the Port Granby Project. As part of the environmental assessments the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management Office will be conducting extensive public information and consultation programs related to the proposed projects.

Natural Resources Canada is working in cooperation with Environment Canada to develop the remediation of Port Hope Harbour AOC within the larger LLRW cleanup.

DELISTING OUTLOOK

Natural Resources Canada is the lead for the clean up of all historic radioactive wastes found within the municipalities of Port Hope and Clarington, including those within the Port Hope Harbour, and will work with Environment Canada to ensure the requirements of the RAP are followed. The development of the LLRW waste facilities will require licenses from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and are subject to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act. It is expected that the regulatory review process will be completed by 2006. An additional five years will be required for the physical cleanup and emplacement of wastes in the newly constructed long-term management facilities. The RAP, therefore, follows a modified process, as progress is dependent upon selection and approval of an appropriate waste facility.

Top of Page
Français | Contact Us | Help | Search | Canada Site
What's New | Topics | Publications | Weather | Home | About Us