Saugeen Ojibway Nation-South Bruce area
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Site selection activities
In 2012, the Municipality of South Bruce initiated the area’s involvement in the site selection process. The project will only move forward in any area with interested communities, along with First Nation, Métis and surrounding communities, working together to implement it.
Committed to safety in the Saugeen Ojibway Nation-South Bruce area
More possibilities, made in South Bruce
South Bruce Community Liaison Comittee (CLC)
Frequently asked questions
View all FAQsHow will you protect property values in South Bruce, Ont.?
As responsible landowners and neighbours, the NWMO will not allow the project to negatively impact property values of our neighbours if the project proceeds in South Bruce. We have committed to develop, in consultation with the municipality of South Bruce, a program to compensate property owners if property values are adversely affected by the project. This property value protection program will be developed as part of a series of well-being studies that the NWMO plans to complete with the involvement of the community in 2021. These studies will also explore processes and procedures that could be put in place as part of the project implementation to manage potential negative effects and ensure community objectives in this area are met.
The NWMO is committed to implementing the project in a way that preserves and enhances the well-being of the community. We live and work in the area, and we want to see Canada’s plan benefit the whole community, should the area be selected to host the repository. We also understand it is up to the community to decide whether the project is compatible with its well-being aspirations.
Will a deep geological repository in South Bruce affect the agricultural community?
For decades, Canadian farmers have safely farmed near nuclear facilities. Their crops and livestock are routinely monitored by partners and federal agencies such as the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. There have been no adverse effects on their land or agricultural products.
The NWMO will work closely with the agricultural community to ensure the deep geological repository project will have added value to the agricultural sector, and to find opportunities to support and promote Ontario agriculture crops and products.
There’s a lot of work in South Bruce to understand water resources. What exactly are you testing for?
Protecting water, people and the environment is so important to the NWMO — it is at the core of what we do and a value we share with Canadians and Indigenous peoples. Understanding water, its quality, its memory and where it flows is essential for us to be able to make good decisions as we do our work.
In July 2021, the NWMO partnered with Saugeen Valley Conservation Authority (SVCA) to research water resources in the South Bruce area. The information collected will help the NWMO and SVCA make future project decisions to protect water.
The program will monitor water flow and collect surface water samples in rivers, lakes and wetlands throughout the Teeswater River and the Beatty Saugeen River subwatersheds.
The water samples will be submitted to CALA-certified laboratories for analysis. They will test for:
- General water quality;
- Existing local industries; and
- Potential contaminants.
Here is what the water will be tested for:
Tier 1 (natural radionuclides): tritium, carbon-14, strontium-90, iodine-129, cesium-137 [and associated cobalt-60, ruthenium-106], gross-α, gross-β
Tier 2 (natural radionuclides): uranium-238, uranium-234, uranium-235, potassium-40, thorium-228, thorium-230, thorium-232, radium-226
Tier 2 (artificial radionuclides): chlorine-36, cobalt-60, selenium-79, ruthenium-106, neptunium-237, plutonium-238, plutonium-239, plutonium-240, plutonium-241 americium-241, curium-244
Metals: aluminum, antimony, arsenic, barium, beryllium, bismuth, boron, cadmium, cesium, chromium (total, trivalent, hexavalent), cobalt, copper, iron, lead, lithium, mercury, manganese, molybdenum, nickel, rhodium, ruthenium, samarium, selenium, silver, strontium, thallium, tin, titanium, uranium, vanadium, zinc, zirconium
Organics: polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, volatile organic compounds, semi-volatile organic compounds, petroleum hydrocarbons, dioxins and furans, polychlorinated biphenyls (total), organochlorine pesticides
Nutrients and general chemistry: alkalinity, bicarbonate, bromide, calcium, carbonate, chloride, cyanide, fluoride, hydroxide, magnesium, pH, potassium, sodium, specific conductivity, sulphate, sum of ions, total dissolved solids (TDS), total hardness, total suspended solids (TSS), turbidity, ammonia as nitrogen, nitrate + nitrite, nitrate (NO3), total organic carbon (TOC), total inorganic carbon (TIC), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), phosphorus, total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN), chlorophyll-a, biological oxygen demand (BOD), total coliforms, E. coli
How will you protect the water supply in the areas around the deep geological repository?
Canada's plan for the safe, long-term management of used nuclear fuel involves containing and isolating the used fuel in a deep geological repository in a way that protects both people and the environment, including water.
The repository will be located deep underground in a suitable rock formation, which must meet technical criteria for the development of a robust safety case. The repository uses multiple barriers that include the waste form, container, sealing materials, and the host rock. The system is designed such that the failure of one component would not jeopardize the safety of the containment system as a whole.
The project will also be subject to a thorough regulatory review process, including an impact assessment and a licensing review to ensure that it is implemented in a manner that protects people and the environment. There cannot be any credible risk to the public or the environment, including bodies of water.
I heard we’ll be able to reprocess used nuclear fuel, so why bury it?
Studies conducted around the world have concluded that high-level waste from reprocessing should also be contained and isolated in a deep geological repository.
If Canada chooses to reprocess nuclear fuel in the future, it would be a joint decision by the nuclear energy producers, the associated provincial governments and the federal government.
If such a decision were made, the NWMO would work with utilities and government to safely manage whatever high-level waste resulted from this process. For example, if some used fuel was identified for reprocessing, it could be diverted for that purpose instead of being placed in the deep geological repository, and be retrieved at a later date.
To help anticipate any changes in fuel cycles used in Canada, we keep an annual watching brief on new developments.