Anja Vandervlies and Michelle Stein could hardly believe it when they heard South Bruce was not going to host Canada’s first permanent storage facility for nuclear waste. “I don't think there are words to explain exactly how we're feeling right now, because we were not expecting this. It's amazing,” said Stein, who would have lived very close to the proposed project.
The pair of South Bruce farmers have been leading the charge against the project that would have seen 6.1 million used nuclear fuel bundles buried under 1,500 acres of farmers fields north of Teeswater. South Bruce voters narrowly voted in favour of hosting the controversial project in a referendum last month.
“To be honest, after the referendum, I was feeling quite hopeless. I did not see any foreseeable future for our family here. We had to actually kind of take a step back.
And we're like, God, we don't know what your plan is, but we're just going to trust in you. And then this morning's announcement came, and it was just amazing,” said Stein, who had seriously thought of moving her family farm elsewhere if the project ended up in South Bruce. Example of used nuclear fuel bundle that will end up Deep Geological Repository for nuclear waste, seen in June 2024.
(Scott Miller/CTV News London) In the end, the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) said with similar geology and transportation safety cases, their desire to pick a preferred site by the end of this year is what made them choose a North.