Work on waste bunker

WORKERS have begun tidying up a radioactive waste bunker in Wan Chai in preparation for the removal of the contents to a new store in two years.

Canadian firm Canatom Radioactive Waste Services has been employed on a $6 million contract to reassess the waste, some of which has been in the old air-raid shelter for more than 30 years, and re-package it in drums.

Some waste material might have decayed enough to be able to be thrown away at a landfill, one government officer said.

The waste - mainly from hospitals - will be moved to a purpose-built store on Siu A Chau by early 1997, according to an invitation to tender put out last week by Environmental Protection Department officers.