IGNACE – On Sept. 1, Necan was joined by a crowd of 20 supporters outside the Nuclear Waste Management Centre office in Ignace where they prepared for the journey ahead.
The third annual Walk Against Nuclear Waste left the NWMO’s offices along Highway 17 shortly after 10 a.m. Their first stop is the Revell Lake burial site, which is approximately halfway between Ignace and Dryden.
According to Necan, her walk is peaceful and meant to raise awareness about plans to construct a series of caverns deep underground in the heart of Treaty 3 territory, to be filled with all of Canada's high-level nuclear waste.
"Let's walk in honour of Mother Earth, for she gives us a life of beauty, and of nature. We are walking for the earth, for the water, and for the generations to come", said Necan.
However, it should be noted that NWMO isn’t planning to bury high-level nuclear waste in a series of caverns contrary to Necan’s statement.
As part of NWMO’s research, a shallow rock cavern was investigated as a possible method of storage, which has been used by Finland’s and Sweden’s governments to store nuclear waste since 1988.
Nevertheless, during NWMO’s investigation of the shallow rock caverns, this method is best suited for low-level waste and storage would be for the short term. NWMO plans to build a Deep Geological Repository at the Revell Lake burial site to house intermediate-level waste for the long term. High levels of nuclear waste will still be stored at the nuclear reactor sites using the current method of containment until it’s time to bring them to the DGR.
Currently, the United State of America’s, Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), near Carlsbad, New Mexico, is the world’s only operating DGR for long-lived nuclear waste according to Rad Waste Planning. The U.S. Department of Energy operates the facility to dispose of waste generated by defence-related activities. WIPP has been operating since 1999 and currently contains about 90,000 cubic meters of nuclear waste.
Those who want to support the walk or join the walkers for some portion of the journey are encouraged to follow “No Nuclear Waste on Treaty Lands” on Facebook for Walk updates.
The Walk will travel west on Highway 17 from Ignace to Dryden before turning north to Sioux Lookout.
