One of Port Hope’s biggest newsmakers for 2009 was the long overdue clean-up of its low-level radioactive waste in the community. The long years of waiting seemed all worth it as government officials finally acted on the problem.

After receiving approval from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC), waste management group Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) began work on the Port Hope project – creating designs for an efficient and cost-effective waste management facility in the region. The ambitious project is planned to hold 1.2 million cubic meters of waste materials and is expected to last for half a century.

And while the actual clean-up process is still a few years off (2011 to be exact), Port Hope’s mayor notes that it’s a very major step forward in cleaning up Port Hope of its literally radioactive past. Even after a decade of advanced planning, AECL still has to finish its final designs – making sure that each penny allotted for the project is well spent.

He points out that problem used to be ‘Is work going to be ever done’. Now it’s ‘Where is it going to be’.

In the end, he hopes that green areas take over Port Hope’s radioactive legacy.