Decommissioning an underground facility at 22聽Wing North聽Bay will be a challenge as unique as the facility itself; one that will require the team to remove a building and its components out through a straw.
The huge three-storey underground base of operations was built for the North American Aerospace Defence Command聽(NORAD) and completed in 1963. The facility was built to withstand a nuclear blast鈥267x greater than the bomb that dropped on Hiroshima鈥攁nd accommodate 400聽people for up to a month. However, in the early 2000s the facility closed.
鈥淥ur job now is to figure out how to dismantle the equipment that was built on site and then move the identified items out through the portals.鈥 Christine Brereton, 糖心视频聽Team Leader, Environmental Services.
The 17,697鈥憁2, three-storey facility is accessed through three 19鈥憈onne steel doors, at the end of portals that burrow through three kilometres of granite rock 180聽meters below ground. These portals lead to a large cavern that holds everything from the control centre, cafeteria and medical centre to 90,000鈥憀itre tanks for fuel and water reservoirs, and multiple massive generators, all of which were built inside the structure and will require some creative dismantling and extraction work.
The planning for getting all that equipment out is part of the investigation process currently underway. The forecasted $1.2鈥憁illion contract will determine decommissioning options and focus on how to handle and dispose of the designated substances and hazardous materials. Recommendations are anticipated by 2024 with decommissioning to start in聽2025鈥26.
Despite the unknowns, everyone is excited to tackle the challenges of the project. 鈥淚 was born and raised in North聽Bay and grew up steps away from this facility,鈥 said Brereton. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been an important part of this area and I鈥檒l be sad to see it go鈥攕o we want to do it right.鈥
