Abandon Ontario Town, Says Nuclear Expert

Helen Caldicott says Port Hope is covered with radioactive soil and the entire population should relocate.

Caldicott, an Australian anti-nuclear activist who made the Academy Award-winning film If You Love This Planet in 1982, delivered a speech in Oshawa last night calling for the government to compensate Port Hope residents, who have been exposed to nuclear material since the 1930s. At that time radioactive soil was spread over the town, which sits 100 km east of Toronto. Much of the soil has been excavated and removed, but some contaminated earth still remains and a 10-year project has been launched to clean up the rest. Many residents have been outraged by Caldicott’s comments, saying that she is scaremongering. Other residents want public hearings on the nuclear industry, which has been active in the region for decades.