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  Request for an Immediate Stop to the Transportation of Radioactive Waste to Chalk River.

This is a translation of a letter, written in French, sent to the Minister of Natural Resources
 by the Bloc Québécois on October 17 2025. 

Mr. Tim Hodgson,Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, House of Commons,Ottawa (Ontario)

Dear Minister,

It is with dismay that we learned of your government’s ambition to use the Chalk River site as a “radioactive dump” to house the waste irradiated from at least three different nuclear reactors.

This revelation is all the more distressing because it comes just weeks after we learned that tons of spent fuel were transported over the summer, to this same location at Chalk River, all with the blessing of your government.

We remind you, Mr. Minister, that the site used in Chalk River is located very close to the source of drinking water for millions of Quebecers. This is probably one of the worst possible and imaginable places to decide to store nuclear waste.

And we are not the only ones to be outraged by this location: no less than 140 Quebec and Ontario municipalities as well as the Kebaowek First Nation are urging to abandon your proposed landfill site also located in Chalk River, known as the Near Surface Disposal Facility (NSDF), near the Chalk River Ottawa. 

This is an irresponsible project that unnecessarily risks an ecological and environmental disaster with effects for decades and a direct impact on millions of human lives.

As a result we call for an immediate halt to any further operations to transport radioactive waste to the Chalk River site.

There is no reason, no reason at all, to justify the lack of transparency and consideration that your government has shown in this matter. We’re talking about decisions that affect millions of people and an entire ecosystem: they can’t be taken lightly. The bare minimum should be to listen to the views of those affected and to to take into account the consequences that such a choice would have for our world.

We are counting on your sense of responsibility, Minister. There is still time to take a step back, abandon the landfill project and stop all further transportation of nuclear waste to Chalk River.

Mario Simard, Bloc Québécois Critic for Natural Resources

Patrick Bonin, Bloc Québécois Critic for Environment and Climate Change

Sébastien Lemire, Bloc Québécois Critic for Indigenous Relations

C.C.: Julie Dabrusin, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, House of Commons, Ottawa (ON) K1A 0A6 613-995-8425

October 24, 2025 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Canada, opposition to nuclear