Fieldwork begins this fall to test more than 800 properties as part of Campaign 2 of the Port Hope Project Property Radiological Survey.
ARCADIS, under contract with the PHAI, began scheduling appointments with property owners in September. The current fieldwork involves interior and exterior gamma radiation scans and borehole drilling/soil sampling. Radon monitoring, the first test in the survey program, has been completed at these properties.
Together, the four investigations provide a full radiological story for each property. From these results, the PHAI can determine which properties require cleanup for historic low-level radioactive waste and which do not.
Over 90 per cent of properties in Port Hope are expected to meet the PHAI Clean-up Criteria and will not require a cleanup. These property owners will receive a Compliance Letter stating that no further investigations will be required. Properties where historic low-level radioactive waste is identified will be cleaned up – once the long-term waste management facility is ready to receive waste in 2018 – and these owners will receive a Compliance Letter when that work is done.
As a personal security measure, each property has been issued a Site Identification Number that will be used during all communications between the property owner and the survey teams. Survey staff will also wear clothing that identifies them as a PHAI contractor.
Results from the current fieldwork will be provided to property owners when all of the testing is completed, analyzed and reports are finalized, which will take 12 to 18 months.
