Nuclear Waste Series: Community-altering referendum days away in South Bruce

Sign urging people to vote in nuclear waste referendum in South Bruce in October 2024. (Scott Miller/CTV News London)

The most important referendum in the Municipality of South Bruce's history is about to take place.

Approximately 6,000 residents in the rural community north of Wingham will start voting on Oct. 21 on whether they want to permanently become the home of Canada's most radioactive waste.

The Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) is looking for a permanent home for 5.6 million used nuclear fuel bundles that remain radioactive for millions of years.

Two communities, the Township of Ignace and the Municipality of South Bruce, are the only two communities who could house the $26 billion project, which would see the used nuclear fuel be entombed in an expansive facility inside canisters over 550 metres underground.

Protect our Waterways-No Nuclear Waste members Michelle Stein and Anja Van der Vlies talk about the proposed nuclear waste project near Teeswater in October 2024. (Scott Miller/CTV News London)

Planning for the project started more than two decades ago, but only reached South Bruce within the past four years when they agreed to consider hosting the project that promises hundreds of well-paying jobs.

It's a debate that largely split the community of 6,000 residents in two. Those for the project, and those against it.

"I think it's a big deal. I'm really trying to encourage my neighbours to get out and vote on it, because this is the kind of opportunity that come by only once," said South Bruce resident Tony Zettel.

"It's getting really close now. This is, as far as I can tell, the last chance as local residents that we get to express what we really think and want for the future of our community, For me, that be an agricultural community, not a nuclear community," said South Bruce resident Anja Van der Vlies.

Starting Wednesday, Oct. 16, CTV London’s Scott Miller will bring viewers and readers a three-part series about the project, the impending referendum, and the debate that's raging on in the community as voting day nears.

An example of a used nuclear fuel bundle at the Nuclear Waste Management Organization Demonstration Centre near Oakville in May 2024. (Scott Miller/CTV News London)