My concerns regarding the NWMO project

I am writing this comment to make my concerns about the geological repository for nuclear fuel waste which the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) is proposing to construct and operate between Ignace and Dryden in northwestern Ontario. 

While I have many, many concerns about the project itself, the method of selecting the site and the site selection itself, my comments tonight are on the Impact Assessment review process which began on January 5th and the NWMO’s “initial project description”.

First of all I want to note that the 30-day comment period is way too short. So many people who are concerned about this project, especially about the transportation of the radioactive waste itself to and from the site, will not have even heard about the comment period before it's already over. As well as those of us who were alerted to the comment period, it is far too short a period of time to come up with well informed commentary on just the initial project description. This is an important project that will have impacts far, far into the future. The review process must be thorough and allow plenty of public participation, and a 30-day comment period is not enough.

Secondarily, the project description was not done as thoroughly as it needs to be and leaves out too much important information about the project. For one, the NWMO is trying to persuade the Impact Assessment Agency that transportation can be left out of the review after describing transportation as part of their project for more than twenty years. This is unacceptable, the transportation of the nuclear waste is an integral, fundamentally related component of the project that should not be excluded.

For several reasons: The transportation of the waste, which would occur daily for 50 years on our dangerous highways MUST be included in the project assessment.

The NWMO has not provided enough information about project activities, including the activities that pose a high level of risk for the workers and especially for the large number of residents in the area, including those downstream from the project site. There is not enough information about the Used Fuel Packaging Plant, how the wastes will be moved underground and placed in the emplacement rooms, how the containers will be monitored after, and how they will be retrieved or fixed in the event of a container failing.

Section 22 of the Impact Assessment Act requires assessments of projects to take into account environmental, health, social, and economic conditions and the rights of Indigenous peoples/concerns of the public, as well as alternatives or alternative means of carrying out the project like site selection, etc. I ask that this and all other sections of the Act be taken into account as necessary. 

THE NWMO MUST BE REQUIRED TO PROVIDE A DETAILED PROJECT DESCRIPTION.  

There needs to be a FULL impact assessment, including an (independent) integrated review panel according to section 43 of the Impact Assessment Act and the Impact Assessment Agency needs to ensure that the public is fully able to participate throughout each and every step of the process.  

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples [UNDRIP] has been adopted into domestic Canadian law through the UNDRIP Act as confirmed by the Supreme Court of Canada in Reference re An Act Respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families. Article 29.2 of UNDRIP says that "states shall take effective measures to ensure that no storage or disposal of hazardous materials shall take place in the lands or territories of indigenous peoples without their free, prior and informed consent." The Federal Court of Canada in Kebaowek First Nation v Canadian Nuclear Laboratories recently held that, in the context of the disposal of nuclear waste, the honour of the Crown requires that the Crown deeply consult with the objective of obtaining the consent of the Indigenous peoples affected AND consultations must be conducted in a manner which is tailored to indigenous laws, knowledges, and practices. 

The Nuclear Waste Management Organization [NWMO] has, so far, disregarded this constitutional obligation. The NWMO may have acknowledged reconciliation in their initial project description, but when Eagle Lake First Nation, who shares their traditional territory with Wabigoon First Nation and whose traditional territory overlaps with the project area, has been left out of the consultation and site selection processes the words said mean nothing. Other First Nations communities will experience nothing short of devastation if this unprecedented project goes awry. 

Please take into account the lives of the people you are impacting with this project and how badly it could end if one thing goes wrong.

Thank you very much for considering my comments and excess of concerns.

James Hutchins