17-22008 - Environmental Services for the National Fire Laboratory, Mississippi Mills, Ontario (17-22008)

The text to be revised is in Section 2.1. “Description of site” in Appendix A is as follows:

English

Under article 2.0 of Appendix A, DELETE Section 2.1 and replace with the following:

The NFL site is located at 833 Ramsay Concession 8, Mississippi Mills, ON, approximately halfway between Carleton Place to the south and Almonte to the north. A key plan illustrating the Site location is provided as Figure 1 ( Appendix A ).

The Site is approximately 78 hectares in size and includes one large main structure (Building U-96) located approximately in the centre of the property. There are also two small buildings used for storage purposes located south and east of Building U-96. The ground surface surrounding the buildings includes a partially paved and partially gravel surfaced parking lot. A chain link fence surrounds the buildings, with gated access from the paved driveway. The gates are located approximately 400 m from Ramsay Concession 8. A site plan illustrating the site features is provided as Figure A-2 ( Appendix A ).

Building U-96 was used to conduct a wide range of full-scale scenarios to test fire detection, fire suppression, smoke movement, and smoke movement management, and to test the performance of building materials and systems. The NFL began operations at the NFL site in 1981. Fire testing associated with the use of aqueous film forming foam (AFFF) reportedly started in 1983. Process waters potentially containing PFAS were reportedly discharged to ground surface.

Some of the previous environmental site assessment reports prepared on the NFL facility have indicated that, between 1983 and 1993, process waters potentially containing AFFF were first discharged to an underground concrete storage tank and then discharged to the ground surface north of Building U-96 . Between 1993 and January 2014, process waters were discharged to the ground surface east of Building U-96. After 2014, process waters were contained and disposed off-Site by a licensed contractor.

The rest of the Site includes mostly former farmland with wooded outcroppings. A topographically lower area with poor surface drainage and a small intermittent watercourse is located in the northeastern portion of the Site.

Surrounding land use to the north, south, and west of the NFL site consists largely of farmland and forested areas. There is a small community of approximately 49 residential homes located east/southeast of the Site.

1. INTRODUCTION

As part of the on-going environmental site assessment activities underway at the National Research Canada’s (NRC) National Fire Laboratory (NFL) site located at 833 Ramsay Concession 8, Mississippi Mills, Ontario, including at specific residential properties located in the vicinity of the NFL site, the NRC will require consulting services to conduct: (1) groundwater and drinking water sampling; (2) soil sampling, (3) human health and ecological risk assessments and (4) remedial/risk management activities on an “as and when requested” basis. The NRC will also require communications support that includes but is not limited to: preparing presentations, briefing notes, and various communications products such as fact sheet, report summaries, etc. and participating in meetings with internal and external stakeholders.