North American Member News November 2024

The NWMO began its consent-based site selection process in 2010. A total of 22 communities volunteered to participate in the siting process. Following increasing technical studies and engagement since that time, two communities remained in the process Ignace/WLON and Saugeen Ojibway Nation (SON)/South Bruce in Southern Ontario.

According to the NWMO press release, it has agreed to an Indigenous-led Regulatory Assessment and Approval Process (RAPP), “a sovereign regulatory process that will be developed and implemented by the WLON. WLON will design the process to ensure that potential impacts of the project are assessed against WLON’s Anishinaabe Values, and that conditions to mitigate any impacts are designed by WLON and complied with by the NWMO.”

In addition to WLON’s RAAP, the project will also undergo a regulatory decision-making process by both the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) and the Government of Canada’s impact assessment process to ensure the safety of the DGR.