Evaluating the Framework for Canada’s Nuclear Waste Management
This article is part of a series exploring the views and perspectives of youth, artists and community members working with the Melgund Integrated Nuclear Impact Assessment Project. This initiative is a climate entrepreneurship and arts-based community recreation program, developed through community consultation, engagement participation in the integrated impact assessment process for the NWMO’s proposed Deep Geological Repository for nuclear waste fuel.
What is Proposed
The Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) has outlined eight core objectives to guide the comparative analysis of options for managing Canada’s used nuclear fuel. These objectives—Fairness, Public Health and Safety, Worker Health and Safety, Community Well-Being, Security, Environmental Integrity, Economic Viability, and Adaptability—are intended to balance technical requirements with social and intergenerational equity. The proponent claims this framework ensures a fair distribution of costs and risks while maintaining a robust management system that can adapt to changing knowledge over time. Central to this proposal is the Initial Project Description, which serves as the foundation for the integrated impact assessment.
Underlying Assumptions
Our analysis has identified several critical assumptions embedded within the proponent’s framework that require public scrutiny:
- Static Safety Benchmarks: The assumption that “current safety standards” are a permanent and sufficient benchmark for risks that will persist for millennia.
- Subjective Economic Viability: The belief that “reasonable cost” is a stable metric, despite the lack of a defined financial ceiling or inflation-adjusted modeling for multi-generational timelines.
- Engagement as Fairness: The assumption that providing opportunities for public engagement is equivalent to achieving procedural fairness and community consent.
- Manageable Climate Risk: The assumption that climate change impacts can be mitigated without disclosing specific modeling parameters for the Revell site.
- Perception-Based Social Impact: The assumption that community polarization and stigma are psychological “fears” to be managed rather than material impacts on property and social fabric.
Community Assessment
The community assessment reveals a significant disconnect between the NWMO’s rhetorical framing of “fairness” and the lived reality for residents of Melgund Township, including Dyment and Borups Corners. While the proponent speaks of a “fair distribution of risks,” the local community is expected to host the entirety of Canada’s used nuclear fuel—a waste product from which they derived no primary benefit. This creates a fundamental substantive injustice. Furthermore, the proponent’s approach to community well-being often pathologizes legitimate local concerns as mere “stigma” or “fears,” effectively secondary externalities to be managed through public relations rather than primary project costs to be mitigated.
Of particular concern is the lack of technical rigor regarding environmental integrity. By focusing on “aesthetic impacts” like noise and visual changes, the proponent trivializes the permanent industrialization of the boreal ecosystem. For a community reliant on local groundwater, the admission that “unplanned events” are possible—without providing specific technical contingencies—offers little comfort. The reliance on “institutional controls” over the very long term ignores the historical fragility of such systems, leaving local residents to bear the legacy of any potential systemic failure.
Path Forward
To improve the integrity of the assessment process, the following corrective measures are recommended:
- Co-Created Indicators: Develop specific, measurable indicators for “Community Well-Being” and “Fairness” in direct collaboration with affected residents and Indigenous groups.
- Climate Modeling Disclosure: Provide detailed climate modeling scenarios, including permafrost melt and extreme flooding projections, specifically for the Revell site and transportation corridors.
- Financial Sensitivity Analysis: Disclose long-term funding models that account for societal breakdowns, economic shifts, and changes in the regulatory landscape to ensure future generations are not burdened.
- Social Cohesion Framework: Establish a formal framework for measuring social cohesion and specific mitigation strategies for community stigma and polarization.
About the Integrated Assessment Process
The federal Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (IAAC) has formally launched the integrated impact assessment process for the proposed Deep Geological Repository (DGR) for Canada’s Used Nuclear Fuel Project, a major national infrastructure initiative led by the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO).
The proposed underground repository is designed to permanently contain and isolate used nuclear fuel in a secure geological formation. Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation and the Township of Ignace have been selected as host communities for the project. The site is located approximately 21 kilometres southeast of Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation and 43 kilometres northwest of Ignace, Ontario, near Highway 17.
According to project materials, the repository would provide permanent storage for approximately 5.9 million bundles of used nuclear fuel. The full lifecycle of the project is expected to span roughly 160 years, including site preparation, construction, operations, closure, and long-term monitoring.
Integrated Federal Review
Major nuclear projects in Canada are subject to an integrated assessment process jointly led by the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC). This “one project, one review” approach is intended to streamline regulatory oversight while ensuring rigorous evaluation of environmental, health, social, economic, and Indigenous rights impacts.
Under this framework, IAAC oversees the impact assessment requirements under the Impact Assessment Act, while the CNSC regulates nuclear safety under the Nuclear Safety and Control Act. The CNSC will issue the initial site preparation licence and manage all subsequent nuclear licensing for the project’s duration.
The integrated assessment also includes a focus on potential impacts on Indigenous Peoples, including rights, land use, cultural practices, health, and socio-economic conditions. Where potential adverse effects are identified, the process is intended to identify mitigation measures to reduce or avoid harm.
Public Comment Period Now Open
The first public comment period for the project is currently open and will run until February 4, 2026. During this phase, the public is invited to provide feedback on the Summary of the Initial Project Description submitted by the NWMO. Submissions received during this period will inform IAAC’s summary of issues, which will guide the next stages of the impact assessment. All comments submitted become part of the public project record and are posted to the federal Impact Assessment Registry.
This plain-language summary is provided by ECO-STAR North and Art Borups Corners to support public engagement.
Disclaimer: The views and perspectives expressed in this article are solely those of the independent arts program led by ECO-STAR North and Art Borups Corners. They do not reflect the official positions of the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) or the Government of Canada.
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