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

The mayor of a small northern Ontario town says the community still has a lot of questions ahead of plans for the province to start hauling radioactive waste to an abandoned mine near the community.

Last year the Township of Nairn and Hyman, better known as Nairn Centre, was made aware of plans from the province to haul radioactive niobium tailings from a former mill near Nipissing First Nation to the old Agnew Lake mine – a property Ontario's Ministry of Mines took over in the 1990s.

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

Nairn and Hyman Mayor Amy Mazey said the community of around 400 people wants eight scientific studies about the risks associated with hauling niobium to the mine to be done before the trucks start rolling.

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

Mazey said the Agnew Lake mine is located around 27 kilometres from the township's drinking water plant on the Spanish River. 

"There aren't many people that live around where it will be deposited, unlike for Nipissing First Nation. But it isn't far from our drinking water," she said.

"This is stuff that's going to be around for a long time. There's cadmium, arsenic, selenium, silver, manganese, it's toxic. It's not good for anyone. We don't want to drink it."

Despite ongoing concerns from local residents, Mazey said the province is scheduled to start trucking over the niobium waste from Nipissing First Nation in August.

"It feels like this was really being snuck into our community," she said.

"It's a hard no from many people and other people, it's like 'Let's get answers to our questions.' And these answers, you know, we just feel we're getting them just before they're about to start trucking." 

In an email to CBC News, Ontario's Ministry of Transportation – which is responsible for hauling the radioactive waste – said it "continues to work with Nipissing First Nation, the Ministry of Energy and Mines, as well as other key stakeholders to complete this project and relocate the remaining niobium rock tailings from First Nation and Ministry lands."

The ministry did not provide additional details about timelines to start that relocation work.

Nairn and Hyman has a community meeting scheduled for Monday night to discuss the plans and let residents voice their concerns.