We the Nuclear Free North
Our resistance continues! We oppose the nuclear industry’s stated intention to bury all of Canada’s nuclear fuel waste in northern Ontario.
Our voices, together, are powerful.
The Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) has made its siting decision, and stated its intention to bury highly radioactive nuclear fuel waste in the heart of Northwestern Ontario – on Treaty #3 lands – in “Sunset Country”. Read more HERE.
Get ready – a federal review is starting soon!
The NWMO is floating a trial balloon before filing their project description – how should we respond?
Sign-up for our contact list to receive news and analysis throughout the review process (including this “trial balloon” being rolled out by NWMO).
Find out more about the NWMO’s misleading “trial balloon” on our Impacts webpage.
NUCLEAR WASTE FREE ANISHINAABE AKI
rally in Thunder Bay – July 4 2025
If you missed this very important rally, which drew over 400 people who oppose nuclear waste transport, burial and abandonment in NW Ontario, please watch the 43-min. video of the powerful speeches by leaders of northern communities, here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpaiSMTn8dI
Hundreds of people from the Thunder Bay area joined all those who came from Grassy Narrows F.N. and other communities at risk. It is vital to continue to show our opposition – all of us together – and make the nuclear industry go back to the drawing board.
Tataganabiwiin
Our alliance is honoured to have received the name Tataganabiwiin: looking far ahead into the future. Learn about who we are, and the origin and meaning of this name, which may be used by all people working together to protect Aki (Mother Earth).
The Resistance Continues:
make a resolution!
As we continue in our resistance to the nuclear industry’s plan, resolutions of opposition from communities and organizations continue to be vital.
Many communities bear exactly the same risk from potential transportation of nuclear fuel waste as Ignace. Community voices are shouting: we are NOT willing! Communities in the project’s extensive watershed are also at risk.
You can pass a resolution against the NWMO’s plan. See our Resolutions and Statements page for a sample resolution copy and a list of resolutions.
Book a presentation
You can request volunteers from We the Nuclear Free North to do a presentation (Zoom or in-person) on the risks of nuclear waste transport and burial, for your private or public group. All information is from referenced sources. Discussion is encouraged!
Email: nuclearfreenorth@gmail.com, or call: 1-855-225-8055 (toll free)
Who we are
We the Nuclear Free North is an alliance of people and groups opposed to transporting, burying and abandoning all of Canada’s nuclear fuel waste in Northern Ontario. Read more.
The issue
Canada’s nuclear industry makes up the members of the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO). The NWMO has chosen a location is just south of the TransCanada Highway, between Ignace and Dryden in NW Ontario, to bury an abandon all of Canada’s nuclear fuel waste. If the plan proceeds, an estimated 100,000 tonnes of highly radioactive nuclear fuel waste would be shipped to the selected site, repackaged, buried, and abandoned by 2188. Learn more about the nuclear waste abandonment issue.
You can help
Spread the word about these “disposal” plans. Speak to your elected representatives. Write your local paper. Make a donation to our efforts. Oppose the NWMO loudly. Contact We the Nuclear Free North – we’ll work together.
Our primary concerns
- Informed consent, or “willingness”.
How has “consent” been defined? Who has been consulted? Has the process been just and democratic? - Lack of scientific evidence for safety of burial.
The stakes are high – can we experiment? A mistake could contaminate our waterways for hundreds of thousands of years. - Dangers of transportation and repackaging.
Dangerous waste will be transported up to 2,517 km, and the highly radioactive and hazardous material unpacked and repackaged on-site.
We believe that responsible stewardship of these wastes close to the sites of their production is the best management alternative.
How am I at risk?
Those along the transport routes are at risk from both incidental gamma ray exposure and consequences of container breach from collisions.
Radioactive fuel waste will be repackaged on-site, an extremely risky procedure that could release radioactive material on the surface, where it could move into local waterways.
Radioactive fuel waste will be buried in the bedrock – something that has never been done before, and for which there is scant evidence of safety. If containment fails, radioactive material could be released into NW Ontario watersheds, eventually reaching Lake Winnipeg and Hudson Bay.
Read more: Nuclear Waste and Health
Local residents are concerned
“The whole thing will fail. It might take a thousand years, but it will fail. No matter what kind of a container, no matter how solid that container you put into the ground, sooner or later it will rot and it will break – and whatever is in it will spread.”
Elder Roy Ignace
Resident of Ignace, Ontario
Take-aways
- The NWMO is not a public agency – it is a group of nuclear power companies
- there is no operating DGR anywhere in the world, and therefore no operating experience the nuclear industry can point to
- The highly radioactive wastes will be transported by truck or rail for thousands of kilometres
- There is no safe level of exposure to radiation
- Certain radioactive components of nuclear waste are water soluble
Would you like to spread the word with a t-shirt or lawn sign?
Please visit our Etsy store!
Visit We the Nuclear Free North’s YouTube channel.
We the Nuclear Free North 