The Nuclear Waste Management Organization's massive project to transport and burial all of Canada’s high-level nuclear fuel waste in northwestern Ontario has moved to the next stage of a federal review with today’s launch of a 30-day comment period on what information must be included in the multi-year review process.

The Impact Assessment Agency of Canada has released the “draft Tailored Impact Statement Guidelines” for a 30-day review period. The guidelines set out what information the Nuclear Waste Management Organization must provide in their “impact statement” and supporting documents. These reports will be the basis of the impact assessment process and public hearing.

The NWMO had announced last year that it would seek to exclude long-distance transportation from the project review. Impact assessment and legal experts and the public more generally have argued that this would be in violation of the federal Impact Assessment Act and exclude a major set of risks to the public and environment.

The draft guidelines released today will require the Nuclear Waste Management Organization to prepare an impact statement including what the Impact Assessment Agency is describing as “detailed description of the project components and activities” but whether the level of detail and scope of the description will be sufficient is the key question during the 30-day comment period. 

The public and Indigenous people have been loud and clear that transportation must be included in the impact assessment process, and the Agency has delivered -  partially. The draft guidelines require the NWMO to describe their transportation plans but they need more detail built in to ensure that the review is thorough. 

We the Nuclear Free North is carrying out a preliminary analysis of the guidelines this week with its members and legal team, and will be holding a public webinar on Thursday, April 16 to support public participation in the comment period. Register HERE. 

A media release with initial response is HERE.