Site preparation for the Municipality of Port Hope’s new state-of-the-art water treatment facility has become a cooperative effort between the Municipality, the federal government represented by the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management Office (LLRWMO) and Cameco Corporation.  The LLRWMO will move soil impacted by low-level radioactive waste from the new plant site to a temporary storage site on the Centre Pier, managed by Cameco Corporation and licensed by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.

“Our new plant will ensure the highest drinking water quality for future generations.  With help from our good neighbour Cameco and support from the LLRWMO, Port Hope can move rapidly ahead on our construction schedule. That means we’ll be one of the first municipalities in the province to have a water treatment plant that meets the new provincial government drinking water guidelines,” said Mayor Rick Austin.   The new water treatment facility, adjacent to the existing plant on Port Hope’s waterfront, is being constructed with assistance from the federal and provincial governments, to meet both the more stringent guidelines being set forth by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment and the future needs of the community.

At no cost to the Municipality, the LLRWMO is assisting by providing environmental monitoring and clean-up of the historic low-level radioactive waste (soil contaminated with radioactivity and heavy metals), located on the new site.  The work is being done under the Construction Monitoring Program, a cooperative program with the Municipality, which has successfully prevented the inadvertent spread of contaminated soil within Ward One Port Hope for more than 15 years.

“The Waterworks site was already designated as one of 13 major historic low-level radioactive waste sites to be cleaned up as part of the Port Hope Area Initiative,” said Project Director Glenn Case. “Excavating and removing the impacted soil was planned as part of the Initiative but we are doing it now in order to help the Municipality move its water treatment program forward on schedule.  During the work this Spring, transportation of the material to the Centre Pier may result in up to 100 truck journeys per working day along Choate and Hayward Streets.”

Cameco has offered space on their licensed Centre Pier property for a temporary storage site where the contaminated soil can be managed safely until the long-term storage facility is licensed and constructed.  Bob Steane, Vice President of Cameco’s Fuel Services Division notes, “We are pleased to be able to assist the Municipality in moving the waterworks project forward.  The centre pier site is fenced, patrolled by security and licensed by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and is already designated as one of the historic waste sites designated for clean up under the Port Hope Area Initiative.”      He added that:  “This project is a good example of a collaborative effort between Cameco, the Municipality of Port Hope and the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management Office.” 

This Centre Pier site was used for storage of low-level radioactive waste during the first clean-up of Port Hope – from 1976 to 1981. The LLRWMO Temporary Storage Site on the Pine Street Extension does not have the capacity to store the historic waste from the Waterworks site.

Waterworks plant site preparation work is expected to last till late May, with facility construction proceeding towards an early 2004 completion date. 

For further information:

Sue Stickley, LLRWMO
(905) 885-1092 

Doug Prendergast, Cameco
(905) 885-4511 ext.2160

Mike Rostetter, Municipality
of Port Hope, (905) 885-4544