THUNDER BAY – The Nuclear Waste Management Organization’s Mobile Learn More Centre is wrapping up its Northern tour this week with a stop at the Victoria Inn Thursday, and a stop at the Fort William First Nation Band Office on Oct. 8.
“The Mobile Learn More Centre is basically a mobile classroom, and it allows us to really help people learn about the MWMO and our project, and everything associated with that,” said Indigenous engagement associate Garrett Ugray.
“And we’re really capping off a great spring and summer tour with our Mobile Learn More Centre all throughout Northwestern Ontario and the communities that we’re working with,” he added.
The Mobile Learn More Centre is a rolling exhibit designed to travel across the Northwestern and Southwestern Ontario to share Canada’s plan and the NWMO’s work with local communities.
It includes multimedia, interactive and static exhibits to explain Canada’s plan for a deep geological repository.
“The timeline right now is to have a site selected with informed and willing host communities by the end of 2023, after that, there will be a 10-year regulatory approval phase, which is when we apply for our licenses to construct,” Ugray said.
Ugray added the construction phase would begin in 2033 at the earliest.
Since 2010, the NWMO has been engaged in a multi-year process to identify a site where Canada’s used nuclear fuel can be safely contained and isolated in a deep geological repository.
By 2012, 22 communities had expressed interest in learning about the project, and the NWMO started the process of narrowing down based on studies and engagement.
The NWMO is on track to select a site in 2033, and two areas, Ignance and South Bruce, remain in the site selection process.
