TORONTO - Last month the Nuclear Waste Management Organization published the Draft Integrated Strategy for Radioactive Waste for a public comment period.
The organization has announced it will extend the comment period from 60 to 90 days, and will now be accepting submissions from citizens, industry, and stakeholders until Nov. 24.
According to Russell Baker, Manager, Public and Media Relations, Nuclear Waste Management Organization, they have only received ten items of feedback from the public, but they hope with the extension to gather more community input.
"We’ve also received a request from some municipalities to consider extending the comment period to close after the Ontario municipal elections," said Baker. "We also heard from some Indigenous communities who identified that they would benefit from more time to engage their citizens before providing comments. These comments demonstrate an interest and commitment to engaging on the strategy at their interest level."
The ISRW is a document of extensive research from waste producers and owners, government, Indigenous peoples, and interested Canadians. The document outlines the recommendations for each method of storage for several long-term waste management facilities in Canada, as well as the pros and cons for each method of storage of all of the radioactive waste in Canada. The ISRW also highlights public inquiry from Canadians and Indigenous people.
According to NWMO media relations manager Russell Baker, following the close of the comment period, the NWMO will review the comments received to be included in the final ISRW draft.
Moreover, the NWMO will publish the document with the revision from Policy for Radioactive Waste Management and Decommissioning, which is expected in late 2022. From there the final published document will be sent to the Minister of Natural Resources.
For more information about the ISRW, please visit https://radwasteplanning.ca and the NWMO at https://www.nwmo.ca.
This story has been updated with new information.
