Uranium from Port Hope, ON

updated May 22, 2012 by Daniel

When radium was discovered in Canada, the Eldorado Mining and Refining company began shipping it to Port Hope for processing. In the early 1940s the United States government approached Canada and asked if they could supply uranium for use in atomic weapons. The Canadian government bought the private company and turned it into Eldorado Nuclear. By the end of 1942 the U.S. had ordered 350 tons of uranium from Canada. Before this order was filled there was another order for 500 tons.

Besides the uranium being shipped out of Port Hope, the U.S. government also shipped 1200 tons of radium ore that had been mined in the Congo, which had been sitting in a warehouse in New York for them to process into uranium. After it was refined the uranium was shipped back to the U.S for use at Hanford and other facilities to create the atomic bomb.

Canada provided uranium for military use to both the U.S. and U.K. until 1972. Canada also sold plutonium to the U.S. military during the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Due to 50 years of radium and uranium refining at the Cameco refinery, formerly the Eldorado Nuclear Ltd., Port Hope is riddled with low-level radioactive waste. It is in homes, parks, office buildings and under the asphalt.

The planned clean up will consist of digging out more than 1.2 million cubic meters of soil. It will cost $260 million and take ten years to complete. The waste will be shipped to a storage mound and sealed up for hundreds of years.

In 2001, the Property Value Protection (PVP) program was introduced. Homeowners who have to sell for considerable less than the appraised value can be compensated for the difference. Some residents have argued that the criteria for consideration is highly specific. One of the complaints of residents is that that the PVP doesn't compensate people with low-level radioactive waste in their houses. It only covers properties that will be directly affected by the large-scale, long-term cleanup process. These include houses close to the dumpsite or along the route trucks will take to get there.

The Port Hope Area Initiative (PHAI), the federal agency in charge of the cleanup, says the rules were decided ten years ago in a signed agreement between the federal government and the municipality of Port Hope. This has lead to a great deal of tension between homeowners and the PHAI. This is in addition to the hostility building up over the differing views on the contamination and its solution.

For years the residents have requested for been asking for years for an extensive health study, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission says there is no danger to health in Port Hope.

The PHAI is pleased with the results of the PVP program. From 2001 to 2011, 40 claims have been processed, with 29 approved for payment and 11 denied. Those who won their claim got an average of $50,000, from a total payout so far of $1.45 million. The PHAI has not released numbers of how many homeowners were told not to bother applying because they're not eligible.

Realtors claim that Port Hope, once considered a populaer retirement destination, has suffered from the stigma of the radation. Prsopective buyers are worried about their health and think twice about purchasing a home there. There is concern that once the actual cleanup starts, it will only make matters worse.

In 2012 Canada's Environmental commissioner issue a report that identified four sites as having the highest reported financial liabilities. Port Hope was home to two of those sites. The first was Port Hope Area Contaminated Sites which needed remediation of approximately 1,380,000 cubic metres of low-level radioactive waste, including radium 226, uranium and arsenic. The second was for an estimated 620,000 cubic metres of low-level radioactive waste at Welcome Waste Management Facility, an above-ground facility.