Port Hope Area Initiative

Background

The Port Hope Area Initiative (PHAI) is a community-based program for the development and implementation of a safe, local, long-term management solution for the historic LLRW in the Municipalities of Port Hope and Clarington (Port Granby). The PHAI represents a commitment by the Government of Canada to respond to the community-recommended solutions to this long-standing problem. It will complete the original work started by the Federal Provincial Task Force on Radioactivity, which undertook the original remediation activities prior to the establishment of the LLRWMO in 1982. 

In 2001, NRCan and the municipalities entered into a Legal Agreement and began the project for the management of historic LLRW within the communities, in above ground facilities designed to last several hundred years. Currently the LLRW is located at unremediated sites and at interim storage facilities and consolidation sites, as well as several smaller sites. The PHAI comprises two remediation projects: the Port Hope Project and the Port Granby Project. 

The projects are moving forward in a phased approach; both projects were approaching the end of Phase 1 by 2009.

PHAI Management Transition

The imminent conclusion of Phase 1 brings to fruition the LLRWMO’s effort since 2001 in successfully managing and directing the PHAI. This project is now being positioned for the commencement of the construction and cleanup phase. Several government agencies have partnered together to ensure that this large and complex phase of the project is completed in accordance with current federal practises and legislation. 

In future, two agents will move the strengthened initiative forward - the LLRWMO as it continues to manage established programs and interim facilities, and a newly established PHAI Management Office (PHAI MO), which is responsible for managing the Port Hope and Port Granby Projects during the upcoming construction phase. 

The construction phase will continue for several years until the waste is safely transported and emplaced in the new facilities. After the waste has been emplaced, ongoing monitoring of the facilities will take place to ensure that there is no impact on public health and the environment in the future. 

The LLRWMO continues to provide ongoing administrative, technical and financial management support to the PHAI MO.

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