Site selection
Canada’s plan will only move forward at a site with informed and willing hosts. That means the people living there need to understand what it means to host a project like this and support having it located in the area.
About the site selection process
The site selection process emerged through a two-year dialogue. It reflects the ideas, experience and best advice of a broad cross-section of Canadians who shared their thoughts on what an open, transparent, fair and inclusive process for making this decision would include. It is built on a set of guiding principles and was developed within our ethical and social framework.
The site selection process is designed to ensure:
• The selected site is safe and secure;
• It has informed and willing hosts; and
• It meets the highest scientific, professional and ethical standards.
When the process began, 22 communities in Canada voluntarily expressed interest in learning more about the project and exploring their potential to host it. We gradually narrowed our focus to two potential sites through increasingly intensive social engagement and technical site evaluations.
Both potential sites are in Ontario — one in the WLON-Ignace area in northwestern Ontario and one in the SON-South Bruce area in southern Ontario.
Together with communities, we’ve been working to assess each site for its potential to meet the project’s robust safety requirements, to develop a safe and socially acceptable plan to transport the used nuclear fuel to each site, and to build supportive and resilient partnerships.
Before Canada’s plan can move ahead, communities must confirm they are willing to host it. Our approach to determining willingness for siting the project has always been community-driven. Each of the communities remaining in the site selection process is developing their own processes for defining willingness and determining how they will express it. The NWMO continues to support the communities and residents by providing the information required to make informed decisions.
Site requirements
Community well-being
Confidence in safety
Our Confidence in Safety reports summarize our understanding of each of the two remaining siting areas. Based on years of research and field work, they conclude both sites being considered to host the repository can meet the project's requirements to contain and isolate used nuclear fuel in a way that will protect people and the environment.
Indigenous Knowledge
Site selection
View all FAQsHow will a single, preferred site be chosen?
Since 2010, we have been engaged in a multi-year, community-driven process to identify a site where Canada’s used nuclear fuel can be safely contained and isolated in a deep geological repository.
Potential siting areas were identified and assessed in a series of steps that began when 22 communities formally expressed interest in learning more.
The safety and appropriateness of any potential site was assessed against a number of factors, both technical and social in nature.
The process is community driven. It is designed to ensure, above all, that the site selected is safe and secure and has informed and willing hosts. The process must meet the highest scientific, professional and ethical standards.
The project will only proceed with the involvement of municipal and Indigenous communities in the area and surrounding communities working in partnership to implement it.
How will the selected area benefit from the project?
Canada's plan for managing used nuclear fuel is a multi-generational national infrastructure project. It will bring significant economic benefits to the area where it is eventually located, as well as to First Nation and Métis communities in the area, surrounding municipalities, and the host province.
The project will be developed and implemented in phases over a period spanning more than 150 years. The economic impact will include many direct, indirect and induced jobs for scientists, engineers, tradespeople and others. Construction and operations will create wealth in the form of business profits and personal income throughout the siting area, amounting to many hundreds of millions of dollars.
We will work with communities in the siting area to foster well-being and help capture benefits that align with the communities' visions. We will work with communities to explore the need for assistance such as job training, affordable housing and infrastructure.
How will the NWMO confirm if communities are willing to host the project?
We have a community-driven site selection process that is designed to ensure above all that any location selected is safe and secure, and that the project has informed and willing hosts.
For over a decade, the NWMO has been working collaboratively with municipal and Indigenous communities to identify a site for a deep geological repository. Our site selection process, which was developed with extensive public input, prioritizes community-led decision making, supporting communities in defining and implementing their own processes rather than imposing willingness criteria.
For example, the Township of Ignace's decision to move forward was the result of a multi-year process they designed and led, which included community-wide input gathered through a third-party consultant, a community vote and willingness study, independent review conducted by a volunteer Willingness Ad Hoc Committee who analyzed the community input and provided a recommendation to Ignace’s municipal council, and expert support from peer review specialists who ensured the procedural integrity of the process. The potential host communities of Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation, the Municipality of South Bruce and Saugeen Ojibway Nation will also implement their own decision-making processes.
The NWMO's role is to provide information and answer questions, but the ultimate decision on willingness rests with the community, and we respect and trust the communities.
The project will only proceed with the involvement of the interested community, First Nation and Métis communities in the area, and surrounding communities working together to implement it.
