A Canadian municipality this week planned another step towards letting its citizens choose whether to host a deep geologic repository for spent nuclear fuel.
On Tuesday, the seven-member Council of the Corporation of the Municipality of South Bruce heard a staff report about the last procedural step needed to include a ballot question about the repository in a future election.
If approved, the question would be eligible to appear on a ballot 180 days later. South Bruce has municipal elections every four years. The most recent regularly scheduled election was in October 2022.
The wording of the question, which the council has settled on, is:
“Are you in favour of the Municipality of South Bruce declaring South Bruce to be a willing host for the Nuclear Waste Management Organization’s proposed Deep Geological Repository (DGR)?”
The report heard Tuesday recommended that the council direct its staff to write of the municipal bylaw needed to get the question on a future ballot. The council was scheduled to vote on the bylaw at a meeting scheduled for April 23, a council staff member said Thursday.
If approved later this month, the question would become ripe for ballot inclusion on Oct. 20, 2024. During and after the 180-day incubation period, citizens could still challenge the wording, and therefore the ballot-eligibility of the question, on legal grounds, according to a council meeting agenda posted online.
South Bruce, near the shores of Lake Huron, about 110 miles from Toronto, is currently one of two candidate sites in the Ontario province to host a deep geologic repository for intermediate-level and non-fuel, high-level radioactive waste.
The other candidate site is Ignace, which is roughly 135 miles as the crow flies from the northwestern shore of Lake Superior.
