Canada begins public engagement on siting of second repository
Canada's Nuclear Waste Management Organization is seeking public input to "confirm and refine" its proposed approach ahead of the planned 2028 launch of the site selection process for a second radioactive waste repository.
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In 2023, the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) took on the responsibility to manage intermediate- and non-fuel high-level radioactive waste in a deep geological repository, after the Minister of Natural Resources endorsed the recommendations within Canada's Integrated Strategy for Radioactive Waste. This work is separate and distinct from the work NWMO has led since 2002 to plan for the safe, long-term management of Canada's used nuclear fuel, also in a deep geological repository.
NWMO has now released a discussion document on its proposed approach for siting a deep geological repository to be used for the disposal of intermediate and non-fuel high-level radioactive waste. It could potentially also hold used nuclear fuel from future nuclear reactors built in Canada.
"For the new project, we will continue our longstanding focus on technical safety and community willingness as primary site selection criteria," NWMO said. "For the next two years, we want to hear from a wide range of rightsholders, communities, industry and other groups with an interest in the project. Based on our experience so far, we are prioritising engagement with Indigenous communities."
"We are committed to seeking input from Indigenous Peoples from the very beginning of our site selection process for the next deep geological repository, and to forge relationships built upon trust and transparency," said Joanne Jacyk, the NWMO's Director of Site Selection for the second repository project.
NWMO President and CEO Laurie Swami added: "Like many countries with commercial nuclear power programmes, Canada is planning for the future. There is international scientific consensus that a deep geological repository is the safest way to manage intermediate and high-level waste over the long-term."
A deep geological repository comprises a network of highly-engineered underground vaults and tunnels built to permanently dispose of higher activity radioactive waste so that no harmful levels of radiation ever reach the surface environment. Countries such as Finland, Sweden, France, the UK and the USA are also pursuing this option.
Last year, the NWMO announced the selection of Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation and the Township of Ignace in northwestern Ontario as the host communities for the proposed deep geological repository for used nuclear fuel, following a consent-based siting process that had begun some 14 years earlier.
Construction of the facility will only begin once the repository has successfully completed the federal government's multi-year regulatory process and the Indigenous-led Regulatory Assessment and Approval Process, a sovereign regulatory process that will be developed and implemented by Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation.
