A First Nation near The Pas is refusing to let radioactive waste pass through its lands, another blow to Creighton’s potential bid to store the contentious material.
Opaskwayak Cree Nation recently approved a resolution banning the transportation of nuclear waste through its traditional territory.
“If they do go through with it, it would come through our community or our traditional territories, if they go by rail or by truck,” OCN Coun. Edwin Jebb told the Winnipeg Free Press on Monday. “That’s Highway 10. They’d come right smack through our community. What this [ban] does is tells the public, and it tells our community members, what the official position of council is, that we’re against the transportation of dangerous goods and nuclear waste through our community.”
OCN has concerns about the safety and environmental impact of moving and then storing in an underground repository nuclear waste.
The Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO), tasked with finding a place to store Canada’s radioactive waste, has said the material would be transported by truck in highly secure containers.
Closer to home, Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation has also adopted a resolution banning the storage of nuclear waste on or near its traditional territory.
