South Bruce settles on referendum to decide nuclear waste project

Borehole drilling sign near Teeswater, Ont. on March 31, 2021. (Scott Miller/CTV London)

The people of South Bruce will ultimately get to decide whether nuclear waste ends up buried in their municipality or not.

South Bruce council says they’ll conduct a referendum of their residents, after the next municipal election, to see if the community want to host Canada’s first permanent nuclear waste facility.

The Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) has spent the past several decades looking for a home for 5.5 million used nuclear fuel bundles that will remain radioactive for centuries.

They are proposing building a massive underground repository to house Canada’s high-level nuclear waste, indefinitely.

South Bruce, just north of Wingham, and Ignace, in Northern Ontario, are the final two communities in the running to host the multi-billion dollar facility, which would bring hundreds of jobs to the chosen community.

South Bruce says a referendum after the municipal election next October will give the community all the information and study results they should need to make an informed decision.

The NWMO plans to decide between Ignace and South Bruce by the end of 2023.

The NWMO has also committed to not moving forward with the project without the approval of the Saugeen Ojibway Nation, whose territorial lands encompass the planned site north of Teeswater.