McClure radioactive site
Encyclopedia
The McClure Radioactive Site was a housing site in Scarborough, Ontario
that was contaminated with radium
from a previous industrial use. McClure Crescent was a street in the housing complex where the contaminated soil was discovered.
In the 1940s, Radium Luminous Industries was a company that operated a plant in the Malvern
area of Scarborough. The plant extracted radium from scrap metal to be used for experiments in accelerated plant growth. The experiments ultimately proved unsuccessful and the company shut down operations. However, the soil on the site of the plant was radioactively contaminated.
In the 1970s, the Ontario provincial government purchased the land for a housing project. In 1980, the radioactive soil was rediscovered on McClure Crescent. Additional contaminated soil was discovered on nearby McLevin Avenue in April 1990.
After lengthy litigation and negotiation, the government agreed to buy back some of the properties and remove the contaminated soil. In 1995, the soil was excavated from 60 properties and moved to a temporary storage facility on Passmore Avenue.
Some of the radioactive material was transferred and is stored at Chalk River, Ontario
. The bulk of the soil (about 16,000 cubic metres) was buried at the Passmore Avenue site and is continually monitored. Since it was buried results have shown that it is not adversely affecting the local environment. In 1999 monitoring of ambient gamma radiation remained at 0.04 Sv/h
which is below the 0.06 Sv/h minimum set by the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management Office.
Scarborough, Ontario
Scarborough is a dissolved municipality within the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Geographically, it comprises the eastern part of Toronto. It is bordered on the south by Lake Ontario, on the west by Victoria Park Avenue, on the north by Steeles Avenue East, and on the east by the Rouge River...
that was contaminated with radium
Radium
Radium is a chemical element with atomic number 88, represented by the symbol Ra. Radium is an almost pure-white alkaline earth metal, but it readily oxidizes on exposure to air, becoming black in color. All isotopes of radium are highly radioactive, with the most stable isotope being radium-226,...
from a previous industrial use. McClure Crescent was a street in the housing complex where the contaminated soil was discovered.
In the 1940s, Radium Luminous Industries was a company that operated a plant in the Malvern
Malvern, Toronto
Malvern is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, with a population of 44,315. It is located in the northeast corner of the city, in the district of Scarborough. Scarborough was merged with five other municipalities and a regional government to form the new City of Toronto in 1998...
area of Scarborough. The plant extracted radium from scrap metal to be used for experiments in accelerated plant growth. The experiments ultimately proved unsuccessful and the company shut down operations. However, the soil on the site of the plant was radioactively contaminated.
In the 1970s, the Ontario provincial government purchased the land for a housing project. In 1980, the radioactive soil was rediscovered on McClure Crescent. Additional contaminated soil was discovered on nearby McLevin Avenue in April 1990.
After lengthy litigation and negotiation, the government agreed to buy back some of the properties and remove the contaminated soil. In 1995, the soil was excavated from 60 properties and moved to a temporary storage facility on Passmore Avenue.
Some of the radioactive material was transferred and is stored at Chalk River, Ontario
Chalk River, Ontario
Chalk River is a Canadian rural community part of the Laurentian Hills municipality in Renfrew County, Ontario. It is located in the Upper Ottawa Valley along Highway 17 , 10 km inland from the Ottawa River, approximately 21 km northwest of Petawawa, and 182 km northwest of Ottawa...
. The bulk of the soil (about 16,000 cubic metres) was buried at the Passmore Avenue site and is continually monitored. Since it was buried results have shown that it is not adversely affecting the local environment. In 1999 monitoring of ambient gamma radiation remained at 0.04 Sv/h
Sievert
The sievert is the International System of Units SI derived unit of dose equivalent radiation. It attempts to quantitatively evaluate the biological effects of ionizing radiation as opposed to just the absorbed dose of radiation energy, which is measured in gray...
which is below the 0.06 Sv/h minimum set by the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management Office.