Naturally occurring organics in groundwaters of the Whiteshell Research Area (WRA) of southern Manitoba were investigated to assess their potential role in radionuclide transport within granite fractures of the Canadian Shield. A survey of dissolved organic carbon concentrations, carried out to determine the variability in the organic content of these groundwaters, showed average concentrations of 0.8 ± 0.1 mg/L for Fracture Zone 2, 0.8 ± 0.4 mg/L for near-vertical fractures and 2.3 ± 0.8 mg/L for deeper saline groundwater. The dissolved organic carbon consisted mainly of hydrophilic neutral compounds (60 to 75%), and hydrophobic and hydrophilic acids (23 to 39%), along with very small amounts of hydrophobic bases and neutrals, and hydrophilic bases. Significant contamination from drilling operations and plastics, mostly in the form of hydrophobic neutrals, was observed in some samples. These compounds would not contribute to radionuclide migration in a natural system and are not included in the assessment of the organic complexing capacity of these groundwaters.Based on groundwater concentrations of hydrophobic and hydrophilic acids and on the measured car☐ylic functional group content of these acids, the average complexing capacity of natural organics in Whiteshell Research Area groundwaters was calculated to be 2.9 × 10 −6 eq/L. The ability of these organics to complex radionuclides was tested using conditional stability constants from the literature for humic complex formation with Am(III), Th(IV), and U(VI). The chemistry of U(VI) was predicted to be dominated by inorganic complexes and not significantly affected by organics. The literature contains a wide range in values of stability constants for Am(III) and Th(IV) complexes with humics. The aqueous chemistry of Am(III) and Th(VI) could be affected by complexation with natural organics if the higher stability constant values are valid for WRA groundwaters.