Environmental Engineering
Hazardous Waste

Environmental engineers are involved in the cleanup of debris and soil contaminated with petroleum products, PCBs and heavy metals which were left at the former DEW Line sites. The DEW Line sites are spread across the arctic from Alaska to Greenland (Alaska, Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Greenland).

CAM-3 DEW (Distant Early Warning) Line site while still in operation. The DEW Line was constructed during the "Cold War" as the primary line of air defence warning of "Over the Pole" invasion of the North American Continent. The actual construction of the 58 sites took place between 1955 and 1957.
    
CAM-3 (Sheppard Bay) DEW Line Site. Many of these Distant Early Warning sites have been decommissioned and are now being cleaned up.

Photos courtesy Ed Grozic, EBA Engineering Consultants Ltd.
CAM-M (Cambridge Bay) DEW Line Site. Remediation of an existing landfill. Construction of a leachate containment system using frozen ground as the primary containment and a geosynthetic liner for secondary containment.


Photo courtesy Ed Grozic, EBA Engineering Consultants Ltd.

Decommissioning nuclear reactors is a multi-billion dollar international business for civil engineering.

Windscale Advanced Gas Reactor

Work on WAGR's core structure is done remotely.

Gently Does It: 04/05/2000 issue of the New Civil Engineer

Scanned with permission of NCE

Environmental engineers are also involved in the study of drift waste from offshore development along the coast line, a problem which could be harmful to coastal and marine life.

Beaufort Sea Shoreline Drift Waste - Environment Canada

Alex Starosud, Apostolos Kantzas and Cooper Langford with the photo-catalytic reactor used to purify contaminated water.
    

Sunlight science set to tackle toxic dangers - Oilsands waste ponds target of UV pilot project

"Imagine using sunlight to destroy toxic waste from Alberta's oilsands plants, or tapping the same kind of energy to quickly clean up oil and pipeline spills and purify water."

Business Edge - June 14, 2001

photo courtesy of Dave Olecko, Business Edge
    

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