This presentation was given at the AGM of Biodiversity Conservancy International, January 14, 2021
This slide from the presentation shows Chalk River Labs in 1948. The original 10 megawatt version of the NRX reactor had been completed a year earlier, in July 1947. Plutonium was extracted from uranium irradiated in the NRX and shipped to the U.S. to make nuclear weapons. Later, irradiated targets containing plutonium were shipped to the U.S, for processing there. This continued until the mid-1960s.
Natural Resources Canada estimates that over half the nuclear wastes at Chalk River – including contaminated buildings, buried wastes, and contaminated lands – came from Cold War weapons-related activities.
Concerned Citizens of Renfrew County and Area 