Characterizing 5,000 Properties to Determine which Require Radiological Remediation - 19152

摘要

The Port Hope Area Initiative (PHAI) is a federal environmental clean-up program. Its mandate is the remediation and local, long-term, safe management of approximately 1.7 million cubic metres of historic low-level radioactive waste (hLLRW) in the adjacent communities of Port Hope and Port Granby in Southern Ontario, Canada. The PHAI is being undertaken by Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL), on behalf of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, a federal Crown corporation. It is currently one of the largest environmental remediation projects in Canada. Conducting work safely, while delivering the PHAI on time and within budget, is CNL's number one priority. The PHAI is being carried out as two projects - the Port Hope Project and the Port Granby Project. The Port Hope Project is the larger of the two and includes the cleanup of approximately 1.7 million cubic metres of hLLRW from various locations within the community. The Port Hope Project includes a unique and important component - the Property Radiological Survey. This survey involves the interior and exterior investigation of approximately 4,800 small-scale sites (SSS) - primarily residential - in the Municipality of Port Hope for the presence or absence of hLLRW. This paper provides an overview of the characterization, delineation and design for remediation of historic LLRW for the SSS, a grouping of sites within the municipality comprised of residential properties, municipal properties including municipal road allowances, private road allowances and temporary storage sites. Comprising over 4,800 parcels of land, a robust remedial process was designed to identify, characterize, delineate and remediate interior and exterior hLLRW contamination found in soils and building materials. The process adheres to the framework of the Port Hope Project Waste Nuclear Substance Licence (License) and its associated governance frameworks and regulatory requirements. The overall goal is for CNL to be able to issue the owner of each parcel of land a Compliance Letter stating that the site meets the PHAI Clean-up Criteria, either after completion of characterization (if no hLLRW is identified) or after completion of remediation and verification.