IGNACE — The Revell site south of Highway 17 has been chosen for the Nuclear Waste Management Organization’s massive underground nuclear waste repository, and John Saunders was glad to hear that news.
But it also leaves him feeling a tad uncertain.
Saunders resides in Manitoba during the colder months. But in summertime he hangs his hat somewhere in the 160 acres he owns near Revell Lake, west of Ignace.
That makes him the deep geological repository site’s nearest neighbour.
“I guess I’m overwhelmed,” Saunders, who supports the plan to place nuclear waste deep below ground near the lake, told Newswatch by phone.
“I just don’t know what’s coming ahead now, because it seems to be a lot of people that are angry.
“I don’t know if NWMO is going to ramp up security there or if I have to take a break from my land. I don’t know. I really don’t know what to expect.”
Saunders said he got a call from the NWMO shortly before the site decision was announced on Nov. 28.
“They called me just prior to it showing up on (the news),” he said.
“They called me that morning, and then I didn’t see anything on the internet. And then all of a sudden the internet news started popping up with their decision.”
Saunders said he wouldn’t be surprised to see “barricades and picketing” near the warm-weather getaway he shares with his two young daughters.
“Whether that turns to violence or not, I don’t know.
“You know, I’m sitting on 160 acres. Someone can throw a torch in the bush and there goes my happy life, you know what I mean?”
While happy with the industry-funded NWMO’s site decision, Saunders recognizes the division and high emotions the repository idea has generated.
The NWMO wants to construct a complex series of tunnels and chambers 650-800 metres below ground for the long-term placement of spent fuel from Canada’s nuclear power plants.
The nuclear body estimates that, pending regulatory and licensing approvals, construction could begin around 2033.
The Township of Ignace is the designated host municipality for the repository, which would be constructed on the traditional territory of Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation.
