|
In Canada - as in several other countries that use nuclear power - the nuclear industry is committed to the idea of burying the nuclear fuel waste deep underground in a rock formation. In 2002 the federal government gave the nuclear industry permission to organize themselves as the Nuclear Waste Management Organization and so relaunch their search for a suitable site and a willing community, and in May 2010 the Nuclear Waste Management Organization formally launched their search for just such a community.
Between 2010 and 2020 twenty-two municipal councils allowed their community and surrounding areas to be studied by the NWMO as possible end points for all of Canada's high level nuclear waste: three in northern Saskatchewan, thirteen in northern Ontario, and six in southwestern Ontario. In 2020 the NWMO shortlisted to two remaining areas: the Revell site, 45 kilometres west of Ignace, in northwestern Ontario, and an area just north of Teeswater in the Municipality of South Bruce in southwestern Ontario. On November 28th 2024 the Nuclear Waste Management Organization announced that it had selected the Revell site in the heart of Treaty 3 territory in northwestern Ontario. A federal impact assessment of the project is expected to launch "on or after January 5th, 2027. After its launch the important first phase of the Impact Assessment Process will move quickly, with short comment periods and tight turnarounds. Get involved early, speak out often. Email the Impact Assessment Agency at [email protected] to be added to their notice list. Email [email protected] to get involved. |
NWMO Now Pursuing Second Deep Geological Repository for Intermediate and "other" High-level Nuclear Waste
June 2025 - The Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) has released a discussion document on their proposed approach for siting a deep geological repository for intermediate- and high-level radioactive waste.
MINISTER ENDORSES THE NUCLEAR INDUSTRY'S "STRATEGY" ON RADIOACTIVE WASTE, GIVES NWMO GREEN LIGHT FOR NEXT FIVE YEARS
October 2023 - With the astounding rationale that the challenges of radioactive waste "pale in comparison to the pollution produced by unabated high-carbon power production", federal minister of Natural Resources Jonathon Wilkinson has endorsed the Nuclear Waste Management Organization's "strategy" for the long term management of intermediate and low level radioactive wastes. Within minutes of the announcement, the NWMO had released their own statement, basking in their achievements. Civil society organizations have vigorously opposed the nuclear industry being given the lead in developing the radioactive waste management strategy, and had full expected the Minister to engage with Canadians and Indigenous people in his review of the draft strategy submitted to him by the NWMO in June. He did not. |
Learn more about high level nuclear waste in Canada and the nuclear industry's campaign to bury all of Canada's highly radioactive nuclear fuel waste in a single location deep underground.
Know Nuclear Waste is a public interest information project about nuclear fuel waste in Canada.
