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CASE STUDIES FROM A MANAGEMENT PROGRAM FOR RADON REDUCTION AND PREVENTION IN A COMMUNITY AFFECTED BY HISTORIC RADIUM WASTE IN CANADA

R. C. Barker, M. J. Gardiner and B.A. McCallum
Atomic Energy of Canada Limited
Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management Office
1595 Telesat Court, Suite 700
Gloucester, Ontario CANADA K1B 5R3

Historic low-level radioactive wastes are located in Port Hope, Ontario, Canada. The radioactive
contaminants, mainly radium-226 and natural uranium, were deposited by a radium refining industry
that operated within the town from the 1930s to the 1950s.
A national program for the assessment and remediation of communities affected by radioactive
contamination was initiated in 1975 by a Federal-Provincial Task Force on Radioactivity and
terminated in 1982. At the program’s conclusion, it had successfully assessed and remediated about
3,500 properties in the town of Port Hope alone, to objectives set by the Task Force for the cleanup.
Although, all residential and commercial properties now meet these cleanup criteria, marginally
contaminated soils remain. The Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management Office maintains a
Construction Monitoring Program (CMP) in association with the local building inspectors office, to
manage the remaining contaminated soils, and to assure that radon progeny concentrations do not
exceed 0.02 WL in new or existing structures.
This paper reviews the experience of the Construction Monitoring Program as it relates to radon gas
concentration issues in Port Hope properties.