An official with the Nuclear Waste Management Organization has confirmed more than $400,000 was transferred to the Village of Pinehouse between 2010 and 2013 as part of exploring the option of hosting a nuclear waste disposal site.
Mike Krizanc says the money was transferred through NWMO’s “learn more” program.
He says the money spent by Pinehouse is consistent with the rules of the program which includes funding for various administrative and informational costs of exploring a nuclear waste disposal site.
“The idea is that no community should be out of pocket for participating in the learning process,” he says. “That communities should be reimbursed for all reasonable costs associated for learning more about the plan.”
Some of these costs include community engagement, travel costs and community sustainability visioning, Krizanc says.
However, D’arcy Hande, a freelance writer with Briarpatch magazine, says Pinehouse officials used the money for little more than promoting the agenda of NWMO and encouraging community members to move ahead with a nuclear waste disposal site.
“Four-hundred-and-seventy-thousand dollars went in, and as far as I can see, probably more than half of that went into salaries for people who are helping to promote the nuclear waste agenda in Pinehouse,” he says.
Through a freedom of information request, Hande has accessed large volumes of correspondence that passed between NWMO and Pinehouse between 2010 and 2013.
He writes about some of his findings in a recent article in Briarpatch.
Late last year, NWMO announced Pinehouse would not be one of the communities moving ahead to the next phase of site exploration.
No one from the Village of Pinehouse was immediately available for comment.