Pursuing Long-Term Nuclear Waste Safety in Canada for Seven Generations and Beyond: A Radio-Ethnobotany Case Study

Abstract

At the present time in Canada, used nuclear fuel disposal will be solved through the implementation of a Deep Geologic Repository (DGR). The Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) has been following an Adaptive Phased Management (APM) plan and is currently in the site selection process. The two locations that remain in the NWMO’s site selection process include Kincardine and the Township of Ignace. Despite the physical and geographical differences between Kincardine and Ignace, both locations reside on Traditional Lands that belong to The Anishinabek Nation. Recently in 2020, Ontario Power Generation’s (OPG) plan to construct a waste repository was vetoed by the Anishinabek people, forcing OPG to abandon their current plan. This shows there is a necessity in obtaining the support of the Anishinabek people to secure the success of the NWMO’s DGR. It is believed that presenting nuclear waste safety must be done using both a Eurocentric science perspective, and an Indigenous way of knowing nature perspective. A combined perspective on nuclear waste safety has led to the initial development of Radio-Ethnobotany. Radio-Ethnobotany is the study of how radionuclides impact traditional ethnobotanical relationships which exist between Indigenous people and the plants indigenous to their land. The cultural value that plants have as medicines to the Anishinabek people means it is necessary to prove that these medicines, and the plants, will be unharmed with the implementation of a DGR now, and far into the future. The first ever Radio-Ethnobotany case study will be presented introducing the mushroom A. muscaria.