Canada court rejects Kebaowek challenge to Chalk River NSDF approval

The city council of Dryden, Ontario, said on October 14 that it intends to ask Canada's Major Projects Office to deny "project of national interest" status to the proposed deep geological repository between the township of Ignace and the Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation (WLON). The repository is planned for the site of the Revell batholith.

Dryden has not signed a hosting agreement

The Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO), the nonprofit responsible for Canada's used fuel and other radioactive materials, began exploring sites in 2010. Ignace and WLON emerged as two final contenders in 2019, and both agreed in 2024 to serve as host communities. NWMO filed its initial project description on January 5. The government said six months later that it was considering the national-interest listing, which would expedite regulatory review under the Building Canada Act, and the Canada Gazette published notice of the possible designation on September 22. Public comment closes October 26.

Dryden, about 100 kilometers northwest of Ignace and 20 kilometers northwest of WLON, did not state that it opposes the repository. Mayor Jack Harrison said, "The NWMO still has not adequately addressed their project impacts on our community." The city said NWMO assessments found it would experience socioeconomic effects from the repository and that, unlike Ignace and WLON, it has not signed a hosting agreement. Ignace received C$10 million (about $7.1 million) in May 2026 under a host agreement signed in March 2024; WLON members received payouts from a milestone payment in March 2025.

Court rules UN Declaration Act does not bind existing law

The Federal Court of Appeal ruled on October 16 that the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission had no expanded duty to consult Kebaowek First Nation over the Near Surface Disposal Facility (NSDF) at Chalk River Laboratories, 200 kilometers northwest of Ottawa. It upheld the CNSC's approval of the site and overturned the lower court's decision in Kebaowek's favor. The court held that the UN Declaration Act guides how UNDRIP standards enter future laws but does not require them in current ones, and that the CNSC is not a governmental body with authority to decide how to apply UNDRIP.

Canadian Nuclear Laboratories submitted a project description for the NSDF in 2016 and its construction application in July 2023; the CNSC approved it in January 2024. Kebaowek challenged the approval in February 2024, and a federal judge ordered expanded consultations with a September 30, 2026 deadline. Kebaowek suspended the talks on September 24, saying CNL and the CNSC had not provided adequate funding for its own legal framework for granting consent; the CNSC denied that. Both said they are reviewing the decision.