Windsor MP expresses relief nuclear waste site will go north to Ignace

Example of used nuclear fuel bundle that will end up Deep Geological Repository for nuclear waste, seen in June 2024. (Scott Miller/CTV News London)

A planned nuclear waste storage facility won’t be coming to southern Ontario and that is reason to rejoice for Brian Masse, the Windsor West MP and NDP Great Lakes critic.

On Thursday, the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) announced it had chosen an area near Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation and Ignace in northwestern Ontario, instead of the community of South Bruce and Saugeen Ojibway Nation.

“I think they weren’t ready and there were many steps they needed to go through,” Laurie Swami, the president and CEO of the NWMO, told CTV News. “In the north, we had a good site that met all of our criteria so, it made sense for us to move forward.”

The northern community will become the site of Canada’s first Deep Geologic Repository (DGR) meant to store radioactive material for more than a century.

\Masse expressed relief the DGR wouldn’t be coming to the shores of Lake Huron, with a referendum last month narrowly backing a site underneath 1,500 acres of farmland near Teeswater in midwestern Ontario, arguing the site posed an unacceptable risk to the drinking water of 40 million people in the region.

“For years, I opposed placing a DGR near the Great Lakes due to the risk of leaks threatening our water and ecosystem,” said Masse, in a statement. “I hope this decision reflects that the NWMO has heard the concerns of Canadian and American leaders.”

Masse gave special credit to opponents of the DGR plan in South Bruce, singling out Michelle Stein and Bill Noll of the Protect Our Waterways group, for their efforts in resisting the site.

“Their work has been crucial in protecting the community and the Great Lakes,” said Masse. “I look forward to seeing the Great Lakes protected, not endangered.”

Missing out on the site means the Municipality of South Bruce will lose out on $418 million over 138 years for hosting the DGR and millions of dollars in economic spinoff benefits.

- with files from CTV London’s Scott Miller