As another school year comes to a close, the Historic Waste Program Management Office (HWP MO) has concluded its classroom education program for the year, educating more than 150 students in Port Hope and Cobourg about the Port Hope Area Initiative (PHAI).
CNL staff at the HWP MO developed an elementary school program in 2017 to align with the social science and science curriculums of schools in the area. The program involves interactive presentations to increase students’ understanding of the historic low-level radioactive waste (LLRW) in the community, how it got there, and the community-developed solution to clean up and safely transport the waste to a secure facility. As part of the program, students have the opportunity to “build” a simulation of the engineered storage mound, learning that both natural and synthetic materials are used in the multi-layered design to safely store the LLRW for hundreds of years.
The program is offered to all Port Hope elementary schools and this school year, CNL staff visited a grade 5/6 classroom at Beatrice Strong Public School and four grade 5/6 classrooms at Port Hope’s Ganaraska Trail Public School. CNL was also invited to speak to a grade 12 World Issues class at Cobourg Collegiate Institute to provide an overview of the community-driven process to develop the solution to this long-standing environmental issue.
Through the PHAI Public Information Program CNL uses a variety of ways to engage the public and speak to community members of all ages on a range of project-related topics. To book a presentation for your classroom, contact us at [email protected].
