Know Nuclear Waste is a Northwatch project, delivered in collaboration with concerned residents in communities being studied as possible burial sites for high level nuclear waste and with other public and expert organizations. 

Northwatch is a non-profit group based on northeastern Ontario, and we have been very involved in the review of options for the long-term management of nuclear waste since communities throughout northern Ontario were first investigated as possible burial sites by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited in the early 1980s. Like many of our neighbours and like the dozens of communities along the potential transportation route between the nuclear reactors of southern Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick and any of the communities that the NWMO might investigate, we are concerned about the prospect of nuclear waste being transported through our region and about the environmental and social consequences of placing a community in northern Ontario on the receiving end of all of the wastes generated by Canadian nuclear reactors - 50,000 tonnes to date and rising.

With the launch of the Nuclear Waste Management Organization's search for a community willing to be investigated as the possible location for a "geological repository" for nuclear fuel waste, Northwatch committed to supporting communities who may find themselves entangled in a siting process for nuclear waste, and to supporting communities who may be unwilling to take on such a burden but find themselves en route between the reactors - where the waste is currently stored - and a community that is being considered by the NWMO as a possible recipient of the waste. 

Our interest is in supporting community members - and communities - in having access to a full range of information about nuclear waste and the challenges in safely managing it over the very long time frame required, including from independent sources and other communities who have had similar experiences. 

This web site was launched November 1st, 2010 and continues to be built  and revised, responding to the information needs of those concerned about the long term hazards associated with nuclear waste and its transportation and the proposed burial of the wastes. 

Staying in Touch

Our community blog to follow news stories and updates about communities involved in the NWMO siting exercise was launched in June 2012 and a  Facebook  page provides another option for following news postings and events listings. In October 2013, the first issue of the Know Nuclear Waste newsletter  was published electronically, providing information and updates from and for communities being studied as potential burial sites for nuclear waste and those along potential transportation corridors - an online subscription form can be found here.

Please send your questions and suggestions to info@knownuclearwaste.ca and we'll do our best to respond in a timely and helpful manner. For more information about Northwatch, visit our web site at www.northwatch.org or email us at northwatch@northwatch.org

Project Support
Inaugural funding for this project was gratefully received from the Catherine Donnelly Foundation. Support has been provided by the Law Foundation of Ontario for a series of workshops and symposia in 2012-2013 and by the Widening Embrace Society. Concerned citizens have been a source of ongoing support throughout. 

Would you like to support this project? Information about how to provide financial or other support to this public information project about nuclear waste will be posted here shortly. In the meantime, details are available by emailing info@knownuclearwaste.ca or calling the project secretariat c/o Northwatch at 705 497 0373.

About this project

A public interest information project about nuclear waste burial in Canada.

Know Nuclear Waste