Deloro Mine Site Cleanup Project

This is a critical year for the Deloro Mine Site Cleanup Project as the ministry finalizes engineering designs for the caps, covers and pumping stations that will be built on the site starting in 2010.  The ministry is working to get the federal, provincial and municipal licenses and approvals in place in order to begin the work.

Critical path: federal environmental assessment

One key approval for the project is from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.  Since two-six per cent of the waste at Deloro is low-level radioactive material, the ministry has to satisfy the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission licensing requirements to safely store and manage that waste on-site.  That licensing process triggers the need to conduct an environmental assessment of the project under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act. 

The ministry completed a federal environmental assessment in June 2007, with revisions and resubmission completed in December 2008. 

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission is offering its Environmental Assessment Screening Report for the Deloro Mine Site Cleanup Project for public review  and comment from May 8 – June 8, 2009.
 
Tendering and construction

Tendering and construction is targeted to begin in 2010 once engineering designs are finalized, and all federal and provincial licenses and approvals are in place.

Private sector companies will be invited to bid on contracts. 

Site cleanup in brief

All contamination at the mine site will remain on site. Waste will be consolidated and contained within two major engineered covers, and one engineered containment cell. The site’s Arsenic Treatment Plant will continue to operate to pump and treat arsenic-contaminated groundwater.  A trench will be built to help divert groundwater around the site to prevent it from being contaminated.  
The ultimate goal of the cleanup plan is to minimize the footprint of the waste, and to isolate it from the environment.

The site will be engineered to be safe for people and the environment for hundreds of years to come.