A PROJECT OF GREAT CONCERN: CHALK RIVER’S PROPOSED NUCLEAR WASTE SITE

The Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE) opposes a proposal by Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) to build a large-scale nuclear waste site at Chalk River, Ontario, citing severe environmental and safety risks.

• The proposed nuclear waste site at Chalk River, Ontario, would be the largest of its kind globally, covering 11 hectares and reaching 25 meters in height to hold one million cubic meters of low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste.
• The site's location in a swamp on the banks of the Ottawa River, 100 km upstream from Ottawa, poses a risk of contaminating drinking water for municipalities in Quebec and Ontario, particularly as tritium would be released into the river.
• The facility is situated in the seismic zone of western Quebec, where Natural Resources Canada reports a small earthquake occurs on average every five days, with some reaching a magnitude of 6 on the Richter scale.
• The waste storage design is criticized for using non-waterproof plastic 'geomembranes' and lacking concrete enclosures, leaving waste superficially accessible and exposed to rain and snow until the planned 2070 closure.
• There is a significant discrepancy between the site's operational and monitoring timeline and the longevity of the waste; the site is scheduled for use until 2070 and monitoring until 2100, while medium-activity waste remains radioactive for tens of thousands of years.

APA

Notebaert, É. (2017). A PROJECT OF GREAT CONCERN: CHALK RIVER’S PROPOSED NUCLEAR WASTE SITE. Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment. https://cape.ca/chalk-river-un-projet-tres-inquietant-a-project-of-great-concern/

Chicago

Notebaert, Éric. A PROJECT OF GREAT CONCERN: CHALK RIVER’S PROPOSED NUCLEAR WASTE SITE. Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, 2017. https://cape.ca/chalk-river-un-projet-tres-inquietant-a-project-of-great-concern/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Notebaert |first1=Éric |title=A PROJECT OF GREAT CONCERN: CHALK RIVER’S PROPOSED NUCLEAR WASTE SITE |publisher=Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment |date=17 May 2017 |url=https://cape.ca/chalk-river-un-projet-tres-inquietant-a-project-of-great-concern/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{notebaert2017project, author = {Notebaert, Éric}, title = {{A PROJECT OF GREAT CONCERN: CHALK RIVER’S PROPOSED NUCLEAR WASTE SITE}}, publisher = {Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment}, year = {2017}, month = may, url = {https://cape.ca/chalk-river-un-projet-tres-inquietant-a-project-of-great-concern/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }