In 2019, the NWMO commissioned Maawandoon Inc to lead Indigenous Dialogue session to support NWMO’s transportation planning for the long-term care of Canada’s used nuclear fuel. This research built upon and complemented public attitude research carried out in 2017 and 2018. The research methodology consisted of 7 Indigenous dialogue sessions and attendance at 3 Indigenous Annual General Assemblies (AGA)/meetings with dialogue components.

The question of whether centralized storage of civilian spent nuclear fuel (SNF) should be part of the federal waste management system as an intermediate step before permanent disposal has been debated for more than four decades. Centralized storage facilities were included as a potential component of the U.S. spent fuel management system in the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (NWPA), but the NWPA did not identify these facilities as being essential.