Clean-up next year for Lady Franklin Point
Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services
Lady Franklin Point (Apr 02/01) - Contaminants generated by a fire last winter are contained and the cleanup of a military radar station near Kugluktuk is expected to begin next year.
Pete Quinn, the project manager of the DEW-line cleanup, said recently that toxins spread around the area, located on Victoria Island roughly 100 kilometres northeast of Kugluktuk, were contained.
The work was done by a partnership between Atco Frontec and Pan-Arctic Inuit Logistics, and a second partnership between Nunasi Corp. and the Kitikmeot Corp.
When the building and radar dome burned to the ground last January, PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) contained in the paint on the walls were incinerated at temperatures that created cancer-causing furans and dioxins. Other contaminants included PCBs, hydrocarbons and glycol.
Officials estimated the toxins contaminated an area approximately 100-by-200 metres.
Although concentrations were in accordance with federal regulations, Quinn said they decided to stockpile all of the contaminated snow on top of the burned debris. A trench was dug around the outside of the mound. It collected water from the melting snow that was filtered and redirected into ponds.
"It's good for getting rid of the organic contaminants like dioxins and furans," said Quinn.
A fencing and a bird screen were put up to keep wildlife away from the pond.
Wayne Ingham of the Environmental Sciences Group, a group that works on the DEW-line cleanup, said they monitored the drainage and filtration system to make sure contaminants were contained.
"If anything is moving around, you're going to see it in the monitoring well," said Ingham.
All remaining debris was covered with gravel and a liner and a berm was constructed to stabilize loose ash.
The actual cleanup of the former DEW-line site was scheduled to proceed in 2005. Because of the fire, that work will now go ahead in 2002.
