February 5, 2024

Re: Government of Canada should halt the construction of a giant radioactive waste mound beside the Ottawa River and respect the rights of Algonquin First Nations

Dear Members of Parliament and Senators,

On January 9, 2024 the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) approved a license amendment to construct a giant above-ground, radioactive mound known as the “Near Surface Disposal Facility, or NSDF, one kilometer from the Ottawa River. The CNSC is widely perceived to have a too-close relationship with the nuclear industry and a tendency to promote and defend the projects it is tasked with regulating, as noted by a federal Expert Panel report in 2017.

If built, the mound will hold one million tons of radioactive and other hazardous wastes resulting from eight decades of operations of the Chalk River Laboratories, a highly contaminated federal nuclear research facility 180 km northwest of Canada’s capital, on the Ottawa River directly across from the Province of Quebec. Studies show the mound would leak during operation and break down due to erosion after a few hundred years.

The NSDF proponent is Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL), owned by a private-sector consortium of AtkinsRéalis (formerly SNC-Lavalin) and two US-based multinationals. Statements from the proponent and the regulator that the wastes are “only low level” do not stand up to scrutiny.

Independent experts say the wastes are heavily contaminated with long-lived radioactive materials produced in nuclear reactors. These materials are hazardous and can cause cancer, birth defects and genetic mutations. These materials must be kept out of the biosphere until they are no longer radioactive, which will take many thousands of years.

According to the  International Atomic Energy Agency, waste from research facilities such as Chalk River Laboratories generally belongs to the “Intermediate-level” waste class and must be kept underground, tens of metres or more below the surface.

Also of vital importance is the fact that the location of the radioactive mound  is on unceded Algonquin territory. The Algonquin Anishinaabe have lived in the Ottawa River watershed since time immemorial and hold inherent rights to govern and protect all life in the watershed. These rights were never ceded to the crown or the government by treaty. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples states that “no storage or disposal of hazardous materials shall take place in the lands or territories of indigenous peoples without their free, prior and informed consent.” The Kebaowek First Nation, the Algonquins of Barriere Lake, and the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation told the CNSC they do not consent to the NSDF being built in their territory.

It is important to note that the consortium continues to import commercial and federal nuclear wastes to Chalk River for placement in the NSDF. These shipments are happening despite a specific request from the City of Ottawa for cessation of radioactive waste imports into the Ottawa Valley.

A directive from the Government of Canada to halt the NSDF project and respect the inherent rights of the Algonquin peoples is urgently needed. 

Yours sincerely,

Éric Notebaert, MD, Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment

Eva Schacherl, Council of Canadians, Ottawa Chapter

Ginette Charbonneau, Ralliement contre la pollution radioactive

Gordon Edwards, PhD, Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility

Johanna Echlin, Old Fort William [Quebec] Cottagers’ Association

Lynn Jones, Concerned Citizens of Renfrew County and Area