Laurie Swami, President and CEO, NWMO (left) with Chris Boyle, Vice-President and Chief Engineer, NWMO (right). The Nuclear Waste Management Organization selected the Ignace-Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation area for a DGR for Canada's used nuclear fuel. (supplied photo)
South Bruce will not be the site of a deep geological repository (DGR) for Canada’s used nuclear fuel.
The Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) announced this morning it has selected the Township of Ignace and Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation in northern Ontario as the host communities for the future DGR.
“The people of both host communities have demonstrated their willingness to move forward in this process,” the NWMO says in a release. “Earlier this month, Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation confirmed its willingness, following a decision-making process that was open to all its members. The Township of Ignace completed a decision-making process with its residents in July, which also confirmed willingness.”
The Municipality of South Bruce issued a news release acknowledging it was notified by the NWMO it would not be the DGR host site.
“Through its 12-year participation in the site selection process the municipality has positioned itself to pursue alternative economic development opportunities,” South Bruce Mayor Mark Goetz says in a release. “South Bruce looks forward to exploring these opportunities to create success for future generations.”
Goetz wasn’t immediately available for additional comment.
South Bruce residents narrowly voted in a referendum last month to being a willing host community for the DGR. Saugeen Ojibway Nation was also being consulted by the NWMO and would have needed to confirm its willingness.
But apparently the NWMO did not see a path forward to an agreement with Saugeen Ojibway Nation for the DGR project.
“We’re very grateful to the Saugeen Ojibway Nation for their many years of engagement with us on this project. Despite best efforts and many years of discussion and engagement, we didn’t see a path forward to an agreement with Saugeen Ojibway Nation on this project at this time,” says NWMO Regional Communications Manger Carolyn Fell in an interview.
Bayshore Broadcasting News reached out to the joint chiefs of Saugeen Ojibway Nation — Saugeen First Nation Chief Conrad Ritchie and Chippewas of Nawash Chief Greg Nadjiwon — for comment, but has not yet received responses.
Saugeen Ojibway Nation issued a statement Thursday afternoon following the NWMO announcement, calling the decision “an historic victory for SON, its people, and our rights to self-determination.”
“Our people and leaders have fought for decades for the right of free, prior and informed consent to be recognized with respect to the disposal of radioactive waste,” the statement signed by Ritchie and Nadjiwon reads. “It is as a result of these efforts that consent was required as part of NWMO’s site selection process.”
The statement also provides some commentary on SON’s dialogue with the NWMO: “SON leadership has been working with NWMO for years to make sure that our right to decide is respected and that fair agreements would be in place to protect our interests regardless of what our members ultimately decided. We have always engaged with NWMO in good faith. Unfortunately, the manner in which NWMO has made its own decisions is extremely disappointing. NWMO made many commitments to work with us collaboratively to support our decision-making process in a full and respectful way. But it is clear NWMO continues to act unilaterally — making decisions behind closed doors and without regard for our governance process or good-faith partnership.”
Last week, SON acknowledged it had not yet determined whether it would be a willing host for the DGR project, saying in a release a decision wouldn’t come until full consultation and engagement occurred with its membership.
“This process cannot be concluded until we are able to share with you the terms of a possible agreement between SON and NWMO that provides for what happens if the DGR is constructed in SON territory and what happens if the DGR is constructed elsewhere,” the Nov. 20 statement from SON reads.
The NWMO decision to build the DGR in the Ignace-Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation area ends a lengthy site selection process that started in 2010. It began with 22 communities and by 2020 the NWMO had narrowed the process to the South Bruce-Saugeen Ojibway Nation and Ignace-Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation areas.
Fell says the DGR project will move into the regulatory process next year with the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. She says licensing could take 5-7 years, and then another seven years to construct the DGR.
“We are looking at the early 2040s to begin transporting the (used nuclear fuel),” Fell explains.
A DGR is constructed underground, usually several hundred metres below the surface, in a stable rock formation. It is a way to store nuclear waste.
“A geological repository uses multiple barriers that include the waste form, container, sealing materials and the host rock. The system is designed such that the failure of one component would not jeopardize the safety of the containment system as a whole,” the NWMO says on its website.
The DGR in Ignace-Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation would become the long-term storage solution for used nuclear fuel bundles from Canada’s existing reactors for energy production, including three in Ontario (Bruce Power, Darlington, Pickering) and one in New Brunswick (Point Lepreau).
“There is international scientific consensus that a deep geological repository is the safest way to manage used nuclear fuel over the long term, and Canada is among the leading countries on this solution,” the NWMO says in a release.
NWMO President and CEO Laurie Swami: “This is a historic moment. This project will solve an environmental issue and supports Canada’s climate change goals. And today’s decision was driven by a consent-based siting process led by Canadians and Indigenous peoples. This is what making history looks like.”
South Bruce confirms in a release it will receive two separate $4-million payments from the NWMO for participating in the site selection process, and for declaring the community a willing host. But the NWMO decision to take the project elsewhere means South Bruce will miss out on more than $400-million in financial and taxation benefits that were laid out in a hosting agreement between the municipality and the NWMO.
*Editor’s note: This story was updated from an earlier version to include additional information and comments.