spring-is-near-and-so-is-the-next-comment-period-in-the-impact-assessment-of-nwmos-nuclear-waste-transport-and-burial-scheme

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Spring is Coming! Get Ready to Take Action Again in Federal Review of NWMO's Nuclear Waste Scheme

Our voices rang out loud and clear during the comment period on the Nuclear Waste Management Organization’s Initial Project Description with more than 600 comments submitted (with fewer than 5% supporting the NWMO’s project) and strong interventions from Indigenous people, local residents, and transportation route communities and residents.

The impact assessment process has proceeded through the next steps – read more below – with the release of the Impact Assessment Agency’s Summary of Issues and then the NWMO’s response to that summary.

Now after a long winter, we’re ready for spring, and to spring into action again with the next public comment period, expected to be announced in early April.

An announcement from the Agency formalizing that the NWMO project will be the subject of a comprehensive assessment and a public hearing is expected in late March, followed by a comment period - expected in early April - on draft guidelines that will set out what information the NWMO must include in their impact statement (which will be the basis for the impact assessment process).

Let’s be ready!

NWMO Posts Response to the IAAC Summary of Issues

The Nuclear Waste Management Organization has posted not one but two responses to the Summary of Issues released by the Impact Assessment Agency on February 16th. On March 12th the NWMO posted their 767 page Response to the Summary of Issues, which included a 34 page response to the Summary of Issues (in two tables) and over 700 pages of reports, mostly past studies on transportation (which NWMO is arguing should be excluded from the impact assessment). On March 17th, NWMO posted part 2 of their response, an 8 page Consolidated Information on the Transportation of Used Fuel - Plain Language Summary which repeats their earlier (weak) arguments about why transportation should be excluded from the federal review.

A comment period on draft "Integrated Tailored Impact Statement Guidelines" is expected to begin in early April. The public will have 30 days to review the guidelines and comment on whether the guidelines capture all the issues raised during the earlier comment period. The guidelines lay out the requirements for information the NWMO must include in their impact statement, which will be the basis of the federal review and the public hearing.

Impact Assessment Agency Issues "Summary of Issues"

On February 16 the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada posted their “Summary of Issues”, which is intended to summarize the issues raised during the public comment period on the NWMO’s Initial Project Description by Indigenous people, the public and government agencies. According to the IAAC, the key issues outlined in the summary and the proponent's response will “inform the scope of the impact assessment, and the continued development and finalization of the Integrated Tailored Impact Statement Guidelines (Integrated Guidelines) and plans”. In their Summary of Issues the Agency instructed the NWMO to “review all submissions on the Canadian Impact Assessment Registry” as the NWMO prepares their response to the Summary of Issues.

The 11-page Summary of Issues was shorter and more general than expected, but landed in the right place on several counts, such as including long-distance transportation, accidents and malfunctions and health as key issues, all of which had been excluded or given short shrift by the NWMO. On the negative, the Agency relegated several important issues to “Annex A” which it described as being “for information purposes only”.

While there is no formal comment period on the Summary of Issues, several critiques from interveners have been posted on the registry, including commentary on the IAAC Summary of Issues by the Canadian Environmental Law Association on behalf of We the Nuclear Free North and by Grand Council Treaty #3 and on the process more generally by Arts Incubator Winnipeg and Melgund Recreation, Arts and Culture.

Massive Public Response to NWMO's Nuclear Waste Project

Transportation must be assessed in a Full Review with Public Hearing

Public response to the Nuclear Waste Management Organization’s proposed Deep Geological Repository (DGR) for high-level nuclear waste delivered some loud and clear messages to the federal government agency managing the review process: there is overwhelming opposition to the project and a strong demand that long-distance transportation be included in a comprehensive impact assessment process that includes a public hearing.

Early analysis of the public comments on the NWMO’s nuclear waste plan shows a very high level of public interest and concern with the NWMO’s plan to transport, process, bury and abandon all of Canada’s high-level nuclear waste at a site the industry organization selected between Ignace and Dryden in late 2024. The submissions were made as part of a 30-day comment period on the NWMO’s Initial Project Description which was posted by the Impact Assessment Agency in January.

Over 600 comments were received, with the vast majority opposing the project or registering criticisms of the project and the NWMO’s “initial project description”.

Fewer than 5% of those commenting indicated support for the deep geological repository, and among those there were concerns expressed by Ignace residents regarding the 2024 “hosting agreement” signed by the Township of Ignace and the NWMO or noting a shift in the relationship between the residents of Ignace and the NWMO since the signing of the agreement.

Approximately 40 submissions were made by Indigenous people or Indigenous organizations, including Treaty 3, Nishnawbe Aski Nation, Anishnabek Nation and a joint submission by several First Nations in the Robinson-Superior treaty area, as well as submissions from First Nations in the vicinity of the project site, such as Eagle Lake First Nation, Lac des Milles Lacs First Nation and Ojibway Nation of Saugeen. Key issues included the lack of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC), the responsibility to protect water, and the risk of intergenerational harm.

Read the full story HERE.

CELA Submission		WTNFN Submission		Summary IPD		Public Comments		All Records

Send an email to the Impact Assessment Agency using the email [email protected] to be added to the Agency's notice list.

Click HERE to get on the notice list for the federal review

In July We the Nuclear Free North produced 3 short "explainer" videos to provide background, context and analysis for the NWMO's false start to the federal review.

1970s to now (6 decades in 6 minutes!)

Impact Assessment (10 minutes)

NWMO's "summary IPD" (5 minutes)

So what did NWMO have to say for itself in their "engagement" sessions last summer?

NWMO wants to keep transportation issues out of the federal impact assessment of their nuclear waste transportation and burial project (5 minutes)

We the Nuclear Free North is an alliance of people and groups opposing a Deep Geological Repository for nuclear waste in Northern Ontario. We oppose the transport, burial and abandonment of this radioactive waste in our northern watersheds.

Our alliance is honoured to have received the name Tataganobin: looking far ahead into the future. Learn more about who we are, and the origin and meaning of this name.

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