NWMO

Canada's Nuclear Waste Management Organization retained Proof Strategies for a three-month $100K push to counter US Congressional opposition to its plan to build a permanent waste storage site in the Great Lakes Basin.

Established in 2002, NWMO is to build a deep geological repository for the used nuclear fuel of New Brunswick Power Corp., Hydro-Quebec, Atomic Energy of Canada and Ontario Power General.

It is considering two sites in Ontario and will make a selection in 2023.

A bipartisan Congressional group led by Congressman Dan Kildee (D-Mich) has spearheaded opposition to the South Bruce site.

Their resolution says an accident involving radioactive waste at a South Bruce facility would have catastrophic and long-term consequences to the health of Michigan, the Great Lakes region and all of the US and Canada.

Kildee, who led an earlier Canadian plan to stop a permanent nuclear waste dump less than a mile from Lake Huron, wants NWMO finds "a better place to permanently store nuclear waste that is not so close to the world's largest supply of fresh water."

NWMO hired Proof Strategies for stakeholder engagement, message development, communications planning, strategy and thought leadership.

In a statement, NWMO says it "has collaborated with local communities to answer their questions and educate them about the global scientific consensus that DGRs are safe, long-term nuclear waste storage solutions that will protect both people and the environment for generations to come."