Third Update on Environmental Remediation of Historic LLR Waste Sites in Canada (1997-2003)

Canada’s Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management Office (LLRWMO) continues to make significant progress toward the remediation of orphan sites contaminated with historic Low Level Radioactive (LLR) waste. Since its establishment in 1982, the LLRWMO, which is operated by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, has acted as the agent of the federal government in this area, taking policy and priority direction from the federal department of Natural Resources Canada. The LLRWMO has investigated and decontaminated structures and properties at many sites across the country. It has removed contaminated soil, debris and radioactive artifacts to interim storage or interim, in situ containment. It has worked with communities and regulatory agencies to develop locally acceptable waste management solutions for the short- and long-term. This paper provides an update on the progress of environmental remediation programs and projects of the LLRWMO made since the last reporting at the Sixth ICEM Conference in Singapore in 1997. Emphasis is placed upon the areas of sustained interim waste management and community problem solving in this period. In addition, comment is provided on the future of the program. On behalf of the federal government, the LLRWMO was appointed in 2000 July to act as the proponent for the Port Hope Area Initiative (PHAI), a ten-year $260 M undertaking that will see historic LLR wastes currently found in various community locations consolidated into safe, long-term management facilities, yielding environmental benefits for present and future generations. This activity is breaking new ground in the implementation of community recommended solutions and signals the way forward in Canada’s historic waste program.