IGNACE — The Nuclear Waste Management Organization has selected the engineering and architectural design company for its planned Centre of Expertise.
CIMA Canada, also called CIMA+, has won the contract to design, create technical specifications and draw up cost estimates for the multimillion-dollar facility in Ignace.
The engineering firm, supported by a team of architects and subcontractors, has offices in Thunder Bay and cities across Canada from Victoria to St. John’s.
A news release on Thursday said the firm “will lead the project from their Thunder Bay office as prime consultant in collaboration with experts from” other firms, including i4architecture, Warrior Engineering, Woodland Heritage Northwest and Scatliff + Miller + Murray in Thunder Bay “as one team.”
Vince Ponka, the NWMO’s regional communications manager, said the selection is “extremely exciting, especially that we have such strong local representation on the team.”
He said the Centre of Expertise is “the second biggest thing we’re going to be building,” other than the deep geological repository that’s planned for a location west of Ignace.
The multibillion-dollar repository, a deep-underground facility for keeping radioactive waste from Canada’s nuclear power plants, will be constructed in the 2030s if it clears regulatory and licensing hurdles in the coming years. Ignace has been designated as its host municipality, Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation as its host First Nation.
The Centre of Expertise will be the most visible part of the repository project as an above-ground structure along the Trans-Canada Highway, Ponka said.
“It’ll be our visitor centre,” he said. “So, for people that want to know more about what a deep geological repository is, this facility would have displays and models and so on that could help tell the whole story about the long-term safe management of used nuclear fuel, but it’ll also be office space for the Nuclear Waste Management Organization staff that will be working and living in Ignace.
“But then, also, the exciting thing, too, is that we want to hear from Ignace residents and from the municipality itself, just to know what they’d like to see in this building – because we really want Ignace to take a lot of pride in this facility and feel like it’s theirs as well.
“So that’s something that’s going to happen in the coming months, is just going to Ignace and talking to people and having events where people can come out and give their input and thoughts about what they’d like to see in this facility.”
The 100,000-square-foot Centre of Expertise is projected to open in 2028. A news release from the NWMO says the facility “will foster collaboration among world-class scientists and multidisciplinary experts and bring new high-value jobs to the community for generations to come.”
A release from the Township of Ignace quoted Mayor Kim Baigrie as saying Thursday’s announcement is “another incredible milestone” in the NWMO’s project.
“We are so thrilled as a mayor, council and community to witness the development of this exciting opportunity to create much needed jobs, construction and economic prosperity for this community,” Baigrie said.
The Centre of Expertise is “one of the most exciting commitments made by the NWMO to the communities hosting the deep geological repository, and we are looking forward to seeing it come to life in the next few years,” NWMO president and CEO Laurie Swami said in the NWMO’s release.
The CIMA+ team will also support the NWMO’s procurement of a constructor for the next phase of the project and will act as the owner’s engineering representative during construction, the release stated.
