IGNACE — Township council took another important step on the road to hosting nuclear waste operations Wednesday by appointing two people to an implementation committee.
Coun. Wayne Minnear and Aaron Gullins, the municipality’s chief administrative officer, will represent the Township of Ignace on the panel.
They will be joined on the committee by two representatives of the Nuclear Waste Management Organization, proponents of a potential deep geological repository west of the municipality.
The repository, or DGR, would be constructed 650-800 metres below ground for placement of spent fuel from Canada’s nuclear power plants.
The NWMO on Nov. 28 selected a site just south of Highway 17 between Ignace and Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation as the location for constructing the large underground complex of chambers and tunnels.
Pending regulatory and licensing clearances, construction could begin around 2033 with operations to begin about 10 years later.
NWMO spokesperson Vince Ponka told Newswatch the organization will name its representatives in early 2025.
“The implementation committee manages the terms of the hosting agreement on behalf of the township,” Andrew Sprunt, Ignace’s project lead, explained.
The four-member panel “is the connection for the township to a $170-million agreement,” he added.
He was referring to the hosting agreement which details the terms of compensation for Ignace if the DGR is built in the area with the township as host municipality.
Schedule D of the document mandates an implementation committee composed of two township representatives and two NWMO representatives.
The panel’s basic purpose is to manage implementation of the hosting agreement and identify what must be done to keep the process moving along.
Sprunt recommended the appointment of the chief administrative officer and one member of council.
He also recommended the council member receive compensation, out of NWMO funds and not property tax revenue, for the extra time commitment involved in committee membership.
Council also discussed a community engagement committee relating to the nuclear waste project.
Sprunt recommended to council that the committee include two members of council, two township employees, two NWMO representatives, one senior, a youth (18-35 years old) representative and some “community members at large.”
He also recommended that the six remaining members of the Willingness Ad Hoc Committee – which facilitated community engagement while the township was considering whether to proceed as a potential host community – be invited to join the community engagement committee.
His report to council said “there will be a very important need for council to engage the residents” while the repository project proceeds. “This committee will assist council with this required engagement.”
The engagement committee’s establishment was deferred to a future council meeting.