In just four years, Laurentis's Clean-Energy Materials Sorting and Recycling (CMSR) facility in Hamilton, Ontario, has efficiently reduced Ontario's volume of low-level nuclear byproducts by re-characterizing or recycling approximately 60 per cent of materials received.

What started as an idea in April 2020 quickly evolved into an innovative research project between Laurentis and McMaster University to explore new methods to process low-level materials gathered over the last 50-plus years of nuclear operations in Ontario. These materials, which make up close to 90 per cent of Canada’s overall nuclear byproducts volume, have minimal levels of contamination and include items like small tools, worker garments, and mops and rags used in cleaning.

Through a commitment to safe operations, teamwork, and innovation, the facility and its staff have gained significant ground since then.

In November 2020, the CMSR laboratory was commissioned and became operational and in December 2021, Laurentis received its first Nuclear Substance Radiation Devices licence from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.

Fast forward to today. The CMSR team has developed advanced techniques to measure radiation, such as automated sorting and enhanced radiation detection methods, that enable items that are not contaminated to be diverted to conventional waste streams. To date, the CMSR has surveyed approximately 19,000 cubic metres (m³) of materials with an approximate volume reduction of 60 per cent. This equates to 2.4 million kilograms of materials; the same, to paint a picture, as 47,500 blue recycling bins being diverted away from interim storage.

Last year alone, 506 m³ of materials were permanently removed from storage, which is equivalent to 2,108 blue recycling bins or, more recycling than the average Canadian household would walk to the curb during its entire home ownership period.

The production of cleaner energy is a growing priority in the fight against climate change and Ontario has a good story to tell with an electricity system that is nearly 90 per cent emissions-free, thanks in large part to the fact that nearly 50 per cent of the province’s low-carbon electricity is generated by nuclear power. The Ontario energy sector’s environmental impact can be lessened even further by reducing its volumes of byproducts, and that is what Laurentis’s highly skilled team of technicians and health physicists set out to accomplish and have proven to do.