The Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) has completed the decommissioning of boreholes and groundwater monitoring wells in the Municipality of South Bruce. This work marks the conclusion of the NWMO’s field activities in the area surrounding Saugeen Ojibway Nation and South Bruce, following the announcement last year that a site in northwestern Ontario was selected to move forward in the process to site Canada’s deep geological repository for used nuclear fuel.
“Completing this work reflects our ongoing commitment to environmental stewardship and regulatory compliance,” said Geoff Crann, Director of Site Characterization at the NWMO. “We are grateful to the residents of South Bruce for their engagement and collaboration throughout the site characterization activities as part of the site selection process.”
The decommissioning work was carried out in accordance with applicable provincial regulations. The work included the removal of monitoring equipment, the plugging of the boreholes and the restoration of the borehole sites.
Throughout the process, NWMO staff were on site to oversee the work and ensure it was completed to the highest standards of safety and environmental protection by the NWMO’s decommissioning contractor.
The NWMO launched our community-driven, consent-based site selection process in 2010 and the Municipality of South Bruce was one of 22 communities who raised their hands to participate in the process. We gradually narrowed our focus through increasingly intensive technical studies and engagement with those communities, their neighbours and the First Nations in whose traditional territories the potential sites were located. Last year, the NWMO selected Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation and the Township of Ignace as the communities that would host the project, subject to a rigorous process of regulatory review.
As activities in the area surrounding Saugeen Ojibway Nation and South Bruce come to a close, the NWMO will now transition to the next phase of Canada’s plan for the safe, long-term management of used nuclear fuel, focusing on further site characterization activities in northwestern Ontario.