Dryden could get over $460K as it negotiates nuclear agreement
By: Matt Prokopchuk, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Source: TBnewswatch.com
DRYDEN — There is nearly half a million dollars on the table to help Dryden negotiate compensation for its proximity to a proposed radioactive waste burial site.
At its Nov. 10 meeting, council formally approved receiving up to $462,208 from the Nuclear Waste Management Organization to offset city costs as the two sides continue discussions on an impact benefit agreement for Dryden. Those talks are happening because Dryden is considered a “significant neighbouring community” to the chosen site for the deep geological repository (DGR) near Revell Lake, Mayor Jack Harrison told Newswatch.
Harrison said the city’s position, when negotiating with the NWMO, has been that the expected workforce boom — should the project be approved — will put more demand on Dryden’s infrastructure. However, since the project isn’t within municipal boundaries, there will be no direct revenue increases via Dryden’s property tax base.
“There’s always (an) impact when you bring in a population base working outside of our city, utilizing all our facilities, roads, infrastructure, and which are supported by our taxpayers,” Harrison told Newswatch. “We’ve been in discussions about trying to (figure out) how do we compensate the community for that amount of activity being outside of our borders.”
The six figures from the NWMO goes toward covering the costs of legal and administrative costs the city has incurred this year, while negotiating a broader agreement with the nuclear waste organization to deal with that issue, Harrison said. A report to council also said it is also to cover costs for consultants, preparing for the DGR’s licensing process and “impact mitigation pertaining to the project — including all expenses and mandatory employment-related costs relating to municipal employees and elected officials.”
“Dryden’s acceptance of this funding does not constitute the municipality’s community support for the … project, nor support for the selection of the Township of Ignace as a DGR host community,” the report added — a point that was echoed at the Nov. 10 council meeting.
The NWMO is the government-mandated and industry-funded not-for-profit tasked with managing Canada’s used nuclear fuel. The deep geological repository will be for high-level nuclear waste, which is the most dangerous. The chosen site near Revell Lake, backed by the Township of Ignace and Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation, still has to pass years of regulatory approvals, including the First Nation’s own parallel process, before construction could begin.
Dryden CAO Roger Nesbitt told council the municipality has long been in talks with the waste management organization over a longer-term agreement.
“It’s been three long years that we’ve been at that,” he said. “We do incur substantial annual costs through those activities, and we’ve approached the NWMO to reimburse us for those costs, and they’ve agreed to do so.”
The money hadn’t been considered when preparing the 2025 municipal budget, Nesbitt said at city hall, but was subsequently added to the municipality’s third-quarter update to its year-end financial forecast. When asked by Coun. Catherine Kiewning whether that could potentially contribute to a 2025 surplus, Nesbitt said it could.
Harrison told Newswatch the two sides continue to negotiate and he expects that larger deal to be in place relatively soon.
“We’re working towards next year having more of a long-term agreement in place,” he said. “That’s our expectation at council.”
