WINGHAM, ONT. -- A local First Nations band is pushing off a vote on nuclear waste until the new year.

Ontario Power Generation wants to bury Ontario’s low- and intermediate-level nuclear waste under the Bruce Power site near Lake Huron.

They’ve said they won’t move forward with the project without the blessing of the Saugeen Ojibway Nation.

A community vote, consisting of about 5,000 band members, that was expected to happen this December, has been moved to January of 2020.

No reason was given for the vote delay.

The planned Deep Geologic Repository would store 200,000 cubric metres of low- and intermediate-level nuclear waste 680 metres below the ground.

That’s as deep as the CN Tower is tall.

The plan has been approved by a federal review panel, but panned by environmentalists who believe the waste will be too close to Lake Huron.