Questions remain ahead of plans to haul radioactive waste to northern Ontario town

Jonathan Migneault · CBC News

· Posted: Jul 14, 2025 6:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 6 hours ago

The politician of a tiny bluish Ontario town says the assemblage inactive has a batch of questions up of plans for the state to commencement hauling radioactive discarded to an abandoned excavation adjacent the community.

Last twelvemonth the Township of Nairn and Hyman, amended known arsenic Nairn Centre, was made alert of plans from the state to haul radioactive niobium tailings from a erstwhile mill adjacent Nipissing First Nation to the aged Agnew Lake excavation – a spot Ontario's Ministry of Mines took implicit successful the 1990s.

Agnew Lake was a uranium excavation and has already been holding radioactive discarded for decades without incident.

Nairn and Hyman Mayor Amy Mazey said the assemblage of astir 400 radical wants 8 scientific studies astir the risks associated with hauling niobium to the excavation to beryllium done earlier the trucks commencement rolling.

"When we enactment this niobium and uranium together, what's going to happen?" she asked.

Mazey said the Agnew Lake excavation is located astir 27 kilometres from the township's drinking h2o works connected the Spanish River. 

"There aren't galore radical that unrecorded astir wherever it volition beryllium deposited, dissimilar for Nipissing First Nation. But it isn't acold from our drinking water," she said.

"This is worldly that's going to beryllium astir for a agelong time. There's cadmium, arsenic, selenium, silver, manganese, it's toxic. It's not bully for anyone. We don't privation to portion it."

Despite ongoing concerns from section residents, Mazey said the state is scheduled to commencement trucking implicit the niobium discarded from Nipissing First Nation successful August.

"It feels similar this was truly being snuck into our community," she said.

"It's a hard nary from galore radical and different people, it's similar 'Let's get answers to our questions.' And these answers, you know, we conscionable consciousness we're getting them conscionable earlier they're astir to commencement trucking." 

In an email to CBC News, Ontario's Ministry of Transportation – which is liable for hauling the radioactive discarded – said it "continues to enactment with Nipissing First Nation, the Ministry of Energy and Mines, arsenic good arsenic different cardinal stakeholders to implicit this task and relocate the remaining niobium stone tailings from First Nation and Ministry lands."

The ministry did not supply further details astir timelines to commencement that relocation work.

Nairn and Hyman has a assemblage gathering scheduled for Monday nighttime to sermon the plans and fto residents dependable their concerns.