Bruce County Council has agreed to defer the vote on a motion made at today's meeting to accept the Nuclear Waste Management's proposed Deep Geologic Repository to store used nuclear fuel as a matter of settled science.
Michelle Stein of the group "no DGR South Bruce" told council via skype Thursday during their meeting that the motion was premature when the science isn't settled on the proposed nuclear fuel Repository.
And she was very pleased to be heard, as South Bruce Mayor Robert Buckle presented a motion to defer the vote.
She said, "we're so grateful today that he stepped forward and presented the motion to defer it at this point and time because our Mayor and council are telling us that we need to learn more and take the time before we made a final decision. So it only makes sense that the county takes the time to learn more before they make a final decision."
The Nuclear Waste Management Organization [NWMO] is considering either South Bruce, or Ignace, Ontario to locate the underground bunker. The NWMO says the nuclear waste would be stored deep underground in solid unmoving rock.
She says moving the waste could add increased risk as it is transported through local municipalities. She worries that since there is no nuclear fuel DGR operating in the world, developing one in South Bruce would be an experiment which could put local rivers and waterways at risk.
She added that the nuclear fuel waste would also still need to be stored at the surface, as "the nuclear waste needs to go into cooling pools, and then it needs to be stored above ground for approximately 30 years before it's even cool enough to be moved."