NAN opposes nuclear waste sites

Friday January 13, 2012

Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) says there will be no storage or disposal of nuclear waste or other hazardous materials on all NAN First Nations traditional territories, especially without free, prior and informed consent.

The Canadian government through the NWMO (Nuclear Waste Management Organization) has developed a waste site selection process. The process is a nine step initiative, which determines the best places to dispose of nuclear waste.

Several non-First Nation communities have already begun the process. While no site has been selected, some of the communities have already conducted feasibility studies over the economic prospects of the initiative.

NAN however disagrees with allowing lands to be used as dumping grounds for nuclear waste, and Grand Chief Stan Beardy is firm on his position of a Nuclear Waste Free Zone on NAN territory.

In November 2009, after becoming aware that Canada had been considering deep geological disposal of nuclear waste in the Canadian Shield, NAN Chiefs-in-Assembly unanimously passed a resolution declaring NAN a Nuclear Waste Free Zone and rejecting NWMO’s site selection process.

“We do not support the NWMO nine-step selection process and continue to oppose nuclear waste sites in Northern Ontario,” Beardy said. “We have a mandate from the Creator to protect our lands and waters and have been doing so for thousands of years. Nuclear waste is a poison that will damage our homelands.”