Ottawa has pledged a whopping $1.28 billion to the biggest radioactive waste cleanup in Canadian history.

Minister of Natural Resources Joe Oliver made the announcement in Port Hope on Friday morning.

Experts had long predicted the cost of the cleanup, earlier pegged at about $260 million, would balloon. Cleanup of low-level radioactive waste scattered through the picturesque town east of Toronto entails digging out more than 1.2 million cubic metres of soil — enough for 500 Olympic-size pools — and will take a decade.

The waste was the result of 50 years of radium and uranium refining at Cameco refinery, the former Crown corporation Eldorado Nuclear Ltd., from the 1930s to the 1980s.

Contaminated soil used as fill was identified as a health hazard in the late ’70s, but it has taken decades to find a long-term solution.

The waste will be dug up from numerous hot spots and taken to a new storage facility north of town, where it will be sealed up and monitored.

The long-term storage facility will be built at the existing old waste site and adjacent property just south of Highway 401; it has the capacity to manage more than 1.9 million cubic metres of contaminated soil.

The mound — something like a gigantic bathtub with an air-tight cover — will isolate the waste within thick, multiple layers of a double-base liner and cover system.

“Today’s funding announcement confirms the federal government’s ongoing commitment to the Port Hope Area Initiative,” said Port Hope Mayor Linda Thompson.

Read the full story by Raveena Aulakh from January 13, 2012 via Toronto News: Port Hope radioactive cleanup gets $1.28B federal funding – thestar.com.