Wawa out of the running for nuclear waste storage

Wawa is out of the running to potentially store nuclear waste.

The Nuclear Waste Management Organization has determined Wawa will not move forward for further study.

"I was certainly disappointed that we're no longer in the process, not merely because it would have been a great economic development tool, but because we really didn't have the opportunity to make up our mind, said Wawa Mayor Linda Nowicki.

We were still studying this and no one that was looking into this either on our community liaison committee or council had decided one way or another."

Four other communities will be moving forward in the process: Creighton in Saskatchewan and Hornepayne, Ignace and Schreiber in northwestern Ontario.

Nowicki said Wawa is receiving $400,000 from the Nuclear Waste Management Organization to set up a community well-being reserve fund. She said that money could be used for projects to improve life in the community.

Ear Falls was among those communities knocked out of contention and will also be financially rewarded for stepping forward as a potential candidate for storing radioactive waste.

Schreiber Mayor Don McArthur said being chosen to move forward in the process came as a welcome surprise, but a lot of discussion and study is still needed before Schreiber agrees to be a storage site.

I'm pleased that we are moving forward, he said. At this point, we're still learning a lot about it and people are very curious about it, so that I'm glad that we're still there for now and have the opportunity to pursue it further."