Rendering of what a deep geological repository for nuclear fuel might look like. (Nuclear Waste Management Organization/Facebook)

By Doug Lett

Sask ruled out

Ontario sites short-listed for nuclear waste storage

Feb 27, 2023 | 5:00 PM

The organization developing a place to store spent nuclear fuel in Canada has settled on two potential sites in Ontario. The move rules out 20 other potential sites across Canada, including three in northern Saskatchewan.

The Nuclear Waste Management Organization recently announced the Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation-Ignace area in northwestern Ontario, and the Saugeen Ojibway Nation-South Bruce area in southern Ontario, are both under consideration.

“These communities are now working through their timelines to determine willingness,” Russell Baker, manager of media relations for the NWMO, said in an e-mail.

Baker said the NWMO hopes to settle on one of the two Ontario sites by the fall of 2024, but only “with informed and willing hosts, where the municipality, First Nation and Métis communities are working together to implement it.”

Disposing of spent nuclear fuel has been an issue for the nuclear industry for decades. A variety of countries, including Canada, are looking at deep geological repositories, where the waste can be safely stored for thousands of years within stable rock formations, like the Precambrian Shield. Finland is already building one.

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Back in 2010, the NWMO announced there were 22 potential sites for underground storage across Canada, including sites near Pinehouse, English River First Nation, and Creighton, in northern Saskatchewan.

According to Guy Lonechild, executive director of the First Nations Power Authority (FNPA), coming up with a shortlist of potential sites is another step.

“There were some previous sites looked at in northern Saskatchewan but there’s been a lot of time and energy put into a deep geological repository in the province of Ontario. And those are the two viable options that that we would support for further study,” Lonechild, who is also a former FSIN chief, said.

Lonechild added the FNPA has been looking seriously at the possibility of Small Modular Nuclear Reactors (SMNR) for Indigenous and northern communities for several years.

“The technology is scalable to small to medium size, power loads,” he said.

“We’re thinking that Indigenous communities in Canada’s far north around micro modular reactor deployment, and the mining sector might be a key way to provide sources of power for industrial purposes in Canada,” he said.

“I think the oil and gas sector is a potential opportunity…in Fort McMurray, for example, where we need to try to look at the application of SMRs for industrial heat….that might be a potential opportunity.”

However, even though SMR’s are relatively small, the cost could easily be a billion dollars or more. Which is why FNPA would be looking for partnerships to help Indigenous communities get involved.

“So it is going to take a significant amount of capital. And so we’re looking at developing consortium groups to participate on an equity basis.”

He added the push to reduce fossil fuel use is making people take another look at nuclear power.

“I really think that climate change and the challenges we have around energy and food security,” he said.

“Indigenous communities are experiencing significant changes in where they gather food,” said Lonechild, adding the relatively small footprint of a SMNR might make the next generation of leaders look more favorably at them.

However, while there may be potential, Lonechild also cautioned there is a long ways to go.

“We’re in the early, early stages of development and discussions regarding indigenous communities in their application, and potential deployment,” he said.

While the NWMO said construction of a deep underground facility won’t likely start until 2040, Lonechild said it’s another piece in the puzzle.

“The only way we’re going to get there is if First Nations that are informed, that give free prior informed consent. And they identify ways that they want to participate in, in clean energy jobs and in the nuclear industry,” he said.