WINGHAM, Ont. -- We’ll know by the end of 2019 whether nuclear waste will be allowed to be buried in Bruce County.
Ontario Power Generation (OPG) committed to not build Canada’s first permanent nuclear waste facility without consent of the Saugeen Ojibway Nation (SON).
That First Nations band says they will hold a binding vote of their roughly 5,000 members in mid-December.
OPG and the band have been holding community meetings throughout Ontario with Saugeen members over the past two years. That will culminate in a vote this December.
OPG wants to bury 200,000 cubic metres of low- and intermediate-level nuclear waste on the Bruce Power site.
A federal joint review panel recommended building the Deep Geological Repository (DGR) facility back in 2013.
That same year, OPG committed to not build the underground facility until they had the blessing of the Saugeen Ojibway Nation, whose territory the proposed facility falls under.
Saugeen First Nation Chief Lester Anoquot says he’s getting pressure from other bands around the Great Lakes to say no to the facility, but he says the decision will be entirely up to his community members.
Once SON decides to approve the DGR or not, the federal government must also approve the project before construction could begin.
