Billion-year-old rock unearthed in Ontario in search for nuclear waste storage site
Martin Sykes holds some very special rocks in his hands inside a work trailer near Teeswater, Ont., the potential site of Canada’s first permanent underground storage facility for nuclear waste.
“It’s incredibly exciting to see these rocks coming out the ground, right here in South Bruce. Some of these rocks are 400 to 450 million years old. At the bottom of the borehole, over one billion years old,” said Sykes, the senior geoscientist with the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO).
But the rocks that Sykes and the NWMO really care about are the Cobourg deposits. This is the rock formation they plan to build a 1,500-acre underground facility in — to house all of Canada’s most radioactive nuclear waste.
“The target formation, the Cobourg, which would be the formation used for the repository itself, that was found at 650 metres deep. So we were able to confirm where we expected to see it,” Sykes explained.
Just up Concession 8 in South Bruce, a second borehole site is underway and the NWMO says the goal is to be able to let the public know whether the rock north of Teeswater can support the massive underground storage facility, meant to contain 5.5 million used nuclear fuel bundles by late 2022 or early 2023.
That timing is important, because citizens opposing the underground plan want a community referendum on the project be put on the ballot for next October’s municipal election.
“Since this project will have a tremendous effect on our community, it is necessary for us to get all the information put forward to the public so that the public can decide on whether they want to host this in our community, or not,” said Municipality of South Bruce Mayor Robert Buckle.
According to Sykes, testing of the how the water moves within their potential project site will continue through next year, along with the borehole testing, which should wrap up in about eight months.
“We’re looking at spring next year for the end of borehole site to site activities,” he said.
That will no doubt coincide with a heightened debate in the community on how best to decide whether or not the Teeswater area in Bruce County wants to house Canada’s high-level nuclear waste.
The NWMO wants to decide some time in 2023 whether South Bruce or Ignace, in Northern Ontario, will host the $23-billion project.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
It's no secret that spring can be a tumultuous time for Canadian weather, and as an unseasonably mild El Nino winter gives way to summer, there's bound to be a few swings in temperature that seem out of the ordinary. From Ontario to the Atlantic, though, this week is about to feel a little erratic.
What do weight loss drugs mean for a diet industry built on eating less and exercising more?
Recent injected drugs like Wegovy and its predecessor, the diabetes medication Ozempic, are reshaping the health and fitness industries.
He replaced Mickey Mantle. Now baseball's oldest living major leaguer is turning 100
The oldest living former major leaguer, Art Schallock turns 100 on Thursday and is being celebrated in the Bay Area and beyond as the milestone approaches.
What a urologist wants you to know about male infertility
When opposite sex couples are trying and failing to get pregnant, the attention often focuses on the woman. That’s not always the case.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
It could take years to catch up on child vaccinations in Ontario post-pandemic
Ontario is still playing catch up on routine vaccinations that many children missed during the pandemic and public health officials are warning that it could take years to solve the problem.