25 March 2026

In a recent letter to the editor of the Hill Times, a spokesperson for the Canadian Nuclear Society claimed that all radioactive waste at Chalk River Laboratories in the Ottawa Valley is Canadian. Here is a quote from the letter:

The repeated use of the word “import” tied with references to American firms is clearly designed to stoke suspicion and suggest foreign waste is involved. In fact, all the materials are Canadian…

Unfortunately, the author of the letter is mistaken. Over the years, large quantities of highly-radioactive commercial waste from US companies have been imported to Canada and sent to Chalk River Laboratories for disposal. Imports of radioactive waste from US companies ramped up shortly after a US-led consortium assumed control of Canada’s nuclear laboratories in 2015.

Two Canadian companies based in Kanata, Ontario, Nordion and Best Theratronics have been sending their radioactive waste to Chalk River for disposal in the proposed NSDF landfill.

These companies accept “disused sources” of cobalt-60 from around the world.

Two 2019 ATIP requests revealed that the following American companies shipped commercial waste to Chalk River between 2014 and 2018: (view and download these ATIP packages here)

1. Nordion Manufacturing Facility in Kanata, Ontario owned by Sotera Health, headquartered in Broadview Heights, Ohio

In 2018, Nordion sent a waste shipment to Chalk River with 34 Terabecquerels of niobium-94. Niobium-94 poses a significant challenge for long-term radioactive waste management, with its half-life of 20,300 years. This single shipment contained over 1400 times the maximum activity of niobium-94 that would be allowed in the NSDF. The  NSDF Waste Acceptance Criteria allow only 23.4 Gigabecquerels, or 0.0234 Terabecquerels.  

2. Permafix NW—headquartered in Richland, Washington and owned by Perma-Fix Environmental Services, Inc. in Atlanta, Georgia

—made seven waste shipments totalling 8.3 tonnes.

3. BWXT Nuclear Energy, owned by BWX Technologies in Lynchburg, Virginia

4. Energy Solutions, now owned by TriArtisan Partners in New York City

During the 2015-2018 period, Energy Solutions shipped 68 Gigabecquerels of radium-226 (half-life of 1600 years) to Chalk River, nearly twice the maximum activity of 37 Gigabecquerels allowed in the NSDF.

Canada’s reports to the Joint Convention on Radioactive Waste Management are another source of information about radioactive waste imports to Canada

These reports appear to show that radioactive waste imports to Canada are increasing.

Canada’s 8th national report to the Joint Convention shows that as of December 31, 2023, the activity of disused cobalt-60 sealed sources, disused cesium-137 sealed sources, and depleted uranium shielding components stored at Best Theratronics in Kanata, Ontario was 191 Terabecquerels, up from 71 Terabecquerels in December 31, 2019.

Disused sealed sources at Nordion Manufacturing Facility, also in Kanata, contained 5,468 Terabecquerels of cobalt-60 in 2023, up from 4,126 Terabecquerels (of both cobalt-60 and cesium-137) in 2019.

Some disused sealed sources are so radioactive that they must initially be put underwater in storage pools, before being transferred to dry storage. The water in the pools serves as a cooling and shielding medium.