We the Nuclear Free North
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. Join us!
Federal Initiative to Fast-Track Approvals for Deep Geological Repository a Betrayal of Public Trust
The federal government has proposed designating the Nuclear Waste Management Organization’s (NWMO’s) Deep Geological Repository (DGR) as a “Project of National Interest” under the new Building Canada Act. This could mean cancellation of the impact assessment process, and guaranteed approval of the DGR, despite lack of any robust evidence to support the safety of the project.
Please join us in vehemently opposing this move. See We the Nuclear Free North’s June 24 media release for more details.
The impact assessment is already well underway, and over 1,000 comments have been posted to the federal government – 95% concerned or negative. It would be a betrayal of public trust to terminate this assessment now.
Use the tool to contact your MP!
Use the tool above at www.tinyURL.com/MessageMPs to express your opposition to the this proposed BYPASSING of the DGR project’s current impact assessment. The tool allows you to respond to the PM, to relevant federal Ministers, and to your MP, and to customize your message. Please share.
The Federal Impact Assessment for the NWMO’s planned DGR project is underway … for now!
A federal review of the Nuclear Waste Management Organization’s (NWMO’s) nuclear waste transportation and burial project was launched on Jan. 5 with an initial 30-day comment period on the NWMO’s Initial Project Description, which closed on Feb. 4. Read more HERE. Over 600 comments were submitted during the initial comment period, and 94% were critical of the project or of the NWMO’s Initial Project Description! A second 30-day comment period, on the draft Impact Statement Guidelines, ran from Feb. 10 to March 10, and garnered hundreds of additional comments.
A win! Long-distance waste transportation was included
The Impact Assessment Agency published the final Tailored Impact Statement Guidelines on July 3. The NWMO did not get their wish – that an examination of long-distance transportation of the used nuclear fuel waste be excluded from the assessment. The Guidelines, however, are weaker in other areas, and do not require a renewed examination of the alternatives to a DGR.
Despite these reasonable Impact Statement Guidelines, the Impact Assessment process is still uncertain, pending the federal government’s next moves concerning Projects of National Interest, as mentioned above. Please see our July 13 media release.
Sign up for our contact list to receive news and analysis throughout the review process.
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 approximately 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 working in the public interest – 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 would 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
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