A radioactive atom is one with an unstable nucleus. Such a nucleus will suddenly disintegrate without warning, flinging off subatomic projectiles that can easily break molecular bonds. repeated atomic disintegrations can kill or cripple nearby cells and damage their DNA molecules.
High levels of exposure to radioactive emissions can kill or maim directly. Chronic exposure to low levels of radioactivity can cause delayed effects such as cancers, leukemias, and genetic defects in eggs and sperm, as well as cardiovascular diseases and other ailments. Accordingly, human-made radioactive wastes should be kept out of the environment of living things as much as possible and as long as possible.
There are many different kinds of radioactive waste. High-level, medium-level, and low-level wastes are much more diverse than those simple adjectives would suggest. They are, for the most part, human-made radioactive materials — hundreds of them — created as a byproduct of nuclear fission. Most of these materials were never found on Earth before 1939, when nuclear fission was discovered. The overwhelming majority of atoms found in nature are non-radioactive. Fallout from exploding nuclear weapons and emissions from nuclear reactors and radioactive waste sites have changed that balance.
Let us not forget, however, that there are dozens of naturally-occurring radioactive materials too, most of them locked up in radioactive ore bodies. When uranium ore is mined, two dozen other radioactive materials are brought to the surface along with the uranium. These materials, called “uranium progeny”, are among the most toxic elements known to science –including radium, polonium, radon gas, and radioactive varieties of lead and bismuth. These are dangerous radioactive poisons left behind in near-surface deposits of sandy materials called “uranium tailings”. They will remain radioactively dangerous for hundreds of thousands of years. Canada currently has about 230 million tonnes of these sand-like uranium wastes.
Radioactive Wastes at Chalk River
[ Radioactive Wastes and the Honour of the Crown
[ CCNR final submission, June 8 2023] ]
[ CCNR opposed to licencing the Chalk River megadump [CNSC submission, June 1 2022] ]
[ To the Prime Minister, Parliament and Federal Government [Hill Times ad, Jan 27 2020] ]
[ Chalk River — The Radioactive Runaround [North Renfrew Times, Jan 8 2020] ]
[ NGOs Oppose Two Radioactive Dumps Beside Ottawa River [Media Release, Dec 2019] ]
[ “The Radioactive Outhouse – A Concrete Approach? [Feb 13, 2018] ]
[ Nuclear Governance in Canada – A Corporate Takeover? [Turning Point, 2019] ]
[ Parliament should investigate radwaste funding [May 27 2019] ]
[ Open Letter: Are Federally-Owned Radioactive Wastes Being Mismanaged? [April 29 2019] ]
[ Transporting Liquid Radwaste to South Carolina [WNY radio, April 22 2019, 24m] ]
[ Radioactive Roads – Liquid Radwaste Trucked through Niagara [slide show, 2017] ]
[ SNC-Lavalin and the Chalk River Megadump [CKUT radio, Mar 13 2019, 12m] ]
[ SNC-Lavalin, Radioactive Waste and Corruption [March 19, 2019] ]
[ SNC-Lavalin: Corporate Corruption and Nuclear Power [RCI radio, 2012, 13m] ]
[ Chalk River: A Licence to Give Billions of Tax Dollars to SNC-Lavalin et al. [2017] ]
[ Assembly of First Nations Opposes Radioactive Waste Abandonment [June 2017] ]
[ Anishinabek Nation & Iroquois Caucus Take United Stance on Rad Waste [May 3 2017] ]
[ Chalk River 2018 Relicensing Request – Background on CNL Plans (December 2017) ]
[ “Media Release: A Policy Vacuum on Ottawa’s Radioactive Waste (Sept 21 2017)” ]
[ “Prime Minister Trudeau: Stop Plans to Abandon Radioactive Waste Beside Rivers (Sept 19 2017)” ]
[ “Background on the Chalk River Radioactive Dump Proposal] [ video, Aug 3 2017, Gatineau)” ]
[ “A Heap of Trouble” – comments on the Chalk River Proposed Magadump (Aug 2017) ]
[ Giant Radioactive Waste Dump at Chalk River on the Ottawa River (Apr 2017) ]
[ Joint Declaration by the Anishinabek Nation and Iroquois Caucus (May 2017) ]
[ Ten Things to Know about the Chalk River Radioactive Mega-Dump (Apr 2017) ]
[ Chalk River “Near Surface Disposal Facility” – Five Fatal Flaws (Mar 30 2017) ]
[ Some Radioactive Materials Proposed for the Nuclear Mega-Dump (Apr 2017) ]
[ Disregard for IAEA safety standards at Chalk River Nuclear Mega-Dump (Apr 2017) ]
[ Who owns Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd [AECL] anyway? (Apr 2017) ]
[ Transport of Highly Radioactive Liquid from Chalk River to South Carolina (March 2017) ]
[ Backgrounder: No Liquid High-Level Radioactive Waste on Public Roads (May 15 2013) ]
[ Resolution Against the Transport of Liquid Radioactive Waste from Chalk River (May 15 2013) ]
[ The Environmental Hazards of Japan’s Reprocessing of Spent Fuel (Oct 4 2013) ]
[ Groups Endorsing the Resolution Against the Transport of Liquid Nuclear Waste (May 16 2013) ]