Creighton is out of the running to store Canada’s nuclear waste, ending one of the most promising – and controversial – economic development proposals in the history of the region.
The Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) announced yesterday morning that the geology around Creighton cannot safely accommodate an underground waste repository.
“Unfortunately, that’s the end of it,” said Creighton Mayor Bruce Fidler.
“I was very disappointed and it’s unfortunate, but you know, it’s a matter of safety. It showed up in the geology, the aerial surveys, that they couldn’t find a safe spot for it, so I can live with that. But again, it’s very disappointing to be out of the process now.”
Other area residents welcomed the news.
“I’m really glad it’s not going to be in our community,” said Suzanne Daigle, a Flin Flon resident who opposed the concept.
Daigle had multiple concerns about the perceived risks of transporting and stockpiling radioactive material.
“I just don’t know [if] anywhere in our country [is] ready to take this on,” Daigle said.
Greg East, who lives outside Creighton, said he would not have opposed the repository if local geology was the best Canada could offer.
But East had little doubt Creighton would be crossed off the list given its distance from Ontario, the site of most of Canada’s nuclear waste as well as all other communities engaged with NWMO.
Yesterday’s announcement stemmed from geological work NWMO carried out on land near Creighton last year.
NWMO identified two areas where further work could have been focused, but both contained fractures “that could have impacted on the safety of the repository,” said NWMO spokesman Mike Krizanc.
The areas in question were so small that there was “no real room” to manoeuvre around the fractures if they were going to be problematic, Krizanc said.
“So if you got down there, you had one shot – you couldn’t move around,” said Krizanc, who was in Creighton yesterday to help deliver the news.
NWMO announced yesterday that Schreiber, Ontario, had also been removed from consideration because of geological concerns.
Kathryn Shaver, vice-president of adaptive phased management engagement and site selection for NWMO, thanked both communities.
“The NWMO is grateful for the opportunity to work and learn with the people of Creighton and Schreiber,” Shaver said in a news release. “These communities should be proud of all they’ve done to help advance this important national infrastructure project.”
For Creighton, the news caps a regional conversation that deeply divided many residents.
On the one side were those keen on the possibility of hundreds of new jobs and billions of dollars worth of investment. For them, nuclear waste would allow the region to finally shed its one-industry-town label.
On the other side were people who believed the project could be unsafe, destructive to the environment or scare off tourists and professionals.
Fidler, the Creighton mayor, believed that as the learning process moved along, the necessary public support for the project would have materialized, though he acknowledged there was opposition.
Fidler said everyone with whom he discussed the matter yesterday morning was “extremely disappointed.”
But Daigle said that when she talked about the issue with residents over the holiday season, she met no one who was in favour.
Daigle said most people either didn’t believe NWMO would choose Creighton, were uncomfortable with the concept or were nervous about speaking out.
The Town of Creighton never applied to host the repository, only to engaged in a years-long learning process around it.
Creighton joined that process in late 2010, several months after town councillors visited a NWMO information kiosk.
Council discussed the concept at length and ultimately took a tour of a Pickering, Ontario, nuclear power facility where radioactive waste is currently stored on site.
Over the next four years, NWMO took part in a series of public presentations and community meetings designed to educate residents on what is known – and not known – about nuclear waste storage.
The concept hit a brick wall in May 2014 when Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation (PBCN), which has a traditional claim on land outside Creighton, announced its formal opposition.
NWMO had said the project could not proceed without First Nations support, but despite PBCN’s stance, the learning process continued until yesterday’s announcement.
For his part, Fidler has no regrets about Creighton’s participation.
“NWMO lived up to their word,” Fidler said. “They said if they couldn’t find a safe spot here, it wouldn’t be here, and that’s exactly what happened. So, no, no regrets whatsoever, and I appreciate all the time and effort that everybody put into it.”
With nuclear waste storage no longer an option, Fidler said he and his council will continue to investigate ways to diversify the local economy.
NWMO said it will take several more years of technical, scientific and social study and assessments, and much more engagement with interested regions, before a repository site can be confirmed.
Still in the running are the Ontario communities of Blind River, Central Huron, Elliot Lake, Hornepayne, Huron-Kinloss, Ignace, Manitouwadge, South Bruce and White River.
NWMO anticipates the repository will be operational by 2035 at the earliest.
