How we selected the site
The Revell site was selected after extensive technical studies and a willingness process where the potential host communities — Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation and the Township of Ignace — agreed to support advancing the project into the regulatory decision-making phase.
About the site selection process
The process to select a site for Canada’s plan to safely manage used nuclear fuel over the long term started in 2010.
By 2012, 22 communities had proactively expressed interest in learning about the project and exploring their potential to host it.
The site selection process emerged through a two-year dialogue. It reflected 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 should include. It was built on a set of guiding principles and was developed within our ethical and social framework.
The site selection process was designed to ensure:
- The selected site is safe and secure.
- It has informed and willing hosts.
- It meets the highest scientific, professional and ethical standards.
Together with communities, we assessed potential sites’ ability to meet the project’s robust safety requirements, the possibility of developing a safe and socially acceptable plan to transport the used nuclear fuel to the site, and the potential to build supportive and resilient partnerships.
In 2024, Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation and the Township of Ignace confirmed they would support advancing the project into the regulatory decision-making phase.
Each of the communities developed their own processes for defining willingness and determining how they would express it.
Canada’s deep geological repository project for used nuclear fuel is now moving through the regulatory decision-making process.
Site requirements
Community well-being
Confidence in safety
Our Confidence in Safety report summarizes our understanding of the siting area. Based on years of research and field work, it concludes that the site 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
We continuously seek to align with the Indigenous Knowledge shared with us by Knowledge Holders working with the NWMO and those from the host communities.
As we continue to move through the regulatory decision-making process and engage with communities, there is an opportunity to learn from local Indigenous Knowledge and apply that learning.
Site selection
View all FAQsHow was the preferred site chosen?
We 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 in 2010, when the process was launched and 22 communities formally expressed interest in learning more and exploring their potential to host the project.
The safety and appropriateness of any potential site were assessed against a number of factors, both technical and social in nature.
The process was community driven and designed to ensure, above all, that the site selected is safe and secure and has informed and willing hosts. The process had to meet the highest scientific, professional and ethical standards.
The project is proceeding with the involvement of municipal and Indigenous communities in the area.
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 did the NWMO confirm if communities are willing to host the project?
The NWMO used a community-driven site selection process that was designed to ensure the location selected is safe and secure, and that the project has informed and willing hosts.
For over a decade, the NWMO worked 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, prioritized community-led decision making. We supported communities in defining and implementing their own processes rather than imposing specific willingness criteria.
For example, the Township of Ignace's decision to move forward was the result of a multi-year decision-making process they designed and led. Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation also implemented their own decision-making process to express willingness.
For both Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation and the Township of Ignace, the outcome of the decision-making process was strong community support for moving forward with the project in their area.
The NWMO's role in these processes was to provide information and answer questions, but the ultimate decision on willingness rested with the communities themselves.
