Part 2 of 2 Parts (Please read Part 1 first)
Theoretically, nuclear disasters could happen anywhere in the world there are nuclear power plants. However, there is a much more tangible concern that impacts all nuclear nations. That concern is the disposal of spent nuclear fuel.
Unlike fossil fuel power plants, nuclear power does not generate carbon emissions during operations. However, the carbon emitted by processing fuel and nuclear plant construction do result in a carbon debt that must be repaid before a nuclear plant can be considered carbon-free. Nuclear power plants do produce radioactive waste that can be toxic and dangerous for thousands of years.
Government regulations required that this waste be stored in such a way that the risk it may pose to public health and the environment in Canada is minimized. After it is removed from a reactor this spent nuclear fuel is cooled in a pool at the reactor site for up to a decade before it is removed and stored in dry casks either at the reactor site or an interim location. Ultimately, the intention is to construct deep underground repositories to store the waste permanently. Understandably, nuclear waste is not something that many Canadians want near their homes or drinking water.
South Bruce is a rural community bordering Lake Huron in western Ontario. Two other municipalities are located between South Bruce and the Bruce Nuclear Power Plant which is the biggest nuclear power plant in Canada.
Bruce Nuclear generates a lot of nuclear waste. Nuclear waste officials say that they have narrowed down their search for a new nuclear waste repository to two locations. One of those locations is South Bruce. The other location is a thousand miles away in Ignace, Ontario. Exploratory work is underway, but no final decision is expected until 2023.
Some citizens of South Bruce support locating the repository there but other citizens strongly oppose it. Proponents claim that it will being thousands of jobs to the community which is three quarters the size of Toronto but only has a population of under six thousand. On the other hand, opponents of the repository are very concerned about even the remote possibility of a leak of radioactive material from Bruce Nuclear. This fear is exacerbated by the proximity of Lake Huron. Opponents also fear that other nuclear power plants might be attracted to the area if the repository is located there.
There has been a separate battle over a nuclear waste repository even closer to Bruce Nuclear for fifteen years. That plan was vigorously opposed by Indigenous groups, environmentalists and hundreds of communities in Canada and the U.S and the plan was scrapped last year.
However, there is no direct connection between that failed plan and the new plan for a repository in the area. The previous plan came from Ontario Power Generation (OPG) and involved low-and intermediate-level radioactive waste. South Bruce and Ignace are both being considered for a federal facility to hold waste with a higher level of radioactivity.
Some of those who were opposed to OPG’s plan have also emerged in opposition to the idea of a new repository in South Bruce. This suggests that federal official may have a very hard time selling the public on the new proposal. All sides do agree on a few things. Canada will keep producing high level nuclear waste, it will remain highly toxic for millennium and it has to be put somewhere.