IGNACE — The Nuclear Waste Management Organization has chosen Revell Lake, between Ignace township and Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation in Northwestern Ontario, as the site for a proposed deep geological repository.
The repository, or DGR, would be a place for the long-term storage of spent fuel from Canada’s nuclear power plants. The Revell site was on a shortlist of two potential locations, along with a spot in the rural South Bruce municipality in southwestern Ontario.
The NWMO estimates construction of the DGR 650-800 metres below ground could begin in 2033, with operations to start by 2045.
The Township of Ignace is “very excited” by the NWMO’s decision, Mayor Kim Baigrie said. “Very emotional as well.”
“I want to take this opportunity to thank first and foremost the entire NWMO organization for making this incredible announcement … and for having the confidence in Ignace and the Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation to host this very important project,” she said in an interview with Dougall Media.
The township will be “working very closely with the Nuclear Waste Management Organization in the very near future to make sure we are positioned as a community to take advantage of all the economic benefits (and) work with them critically in the licensing and regulatory process that will follow,” she added.
Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation members voted this month to be a willing host the DGR if the project “passes not only Canada's regulatory process but our own regulatory approval process,” Chief Clayton Wetelainen said.
There is “a lot of discussion, a lot of studies, a lot of engagement” ahead now that site selection has been made, he said.
“Canadians and Indigenous Peoples have been clear that it is essential to take responsibility now, in this generation, to safely manage Canada’s used nuclear fuel for the long term,” the NWMO said in its release.
“This announcement is an important milestone in delivering on that promise to not leave it as a burden for future generations to manage.”
But really “there isn’t an environmental case for nuclear power” and the DGR is a separate issue from the expansion of nuclear power in Canada, said Brennain Lloyd, a member of the anti-nuclear group Northwatch.
Wendy O’Connor of We the Nuclear Free North said she is “disappointed in this news from the nuclear industry, but it is certainly not the end of the story.”
The NWMO has not received the “robust expression of community willingness” it declared essential to making its site decision, she said in an email.
Instead, O’Connor said, Wabigoon Lake expressed only “conditional willingness – the consent only to move to the next step of investigations” and not to build the DGR in the First Nation’s traditional territory.
“Thus, the industry has simply pivoted and jumped to a site selection announcement, regardless of the failure of their siting process to meet its own requirements.”
Ignace township council passed a motion in July to continue as a potential host municipality. Wabigoon Lake members approved continuing in the process in a referendum that concluded Nov. 16.
Ignace resident Diana Schmidt said the NWMO’s decision comes after years of manufacturing community willingness through “bribery” and one-sided discourse.
The NWMO has given the municipality millions of dollars and dominated public discussion over the years, she said.
“The fight’s not over,” she said. “We don’t want (the DGR) to be here.”
The site selection is the culmination of a nearly 15-year process that began in 2010 when the NWMO, which is funded by nuclear power producers, invited municipalities to express interest in hosting a DGR. More than 20 municipalities expressed an interest.
Thursday’s NWMO release said the DGR project “needs to be implemented in a way that advances community well-being as defined by the host communities.”
The site decision “was possible because of the communities’ leadership and active engagement over a decade of learning, as well as considering the future of their communities,” said the NWMO. “The safety of the site was also established through rigorous site assessment and technical studies.”
Ignace reached a “potential hosting agreement” with the NWMO earlier this year that says the township will receive nearly $170 million from 2024 through 2105 if the Revell site is selected and the DGR is built there. Wabigoon Lake signed a similar agreement, but its details have not been disclosed.
