Dear Editor:
It is just over six months since the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) left South Bruce and chose the township of Ignace as the location for the Deep Geological Repository (DGR) for high level nuclear waste. At the end of May 2025, the NWMO did close the “Learn More Centre” on Clinton Street in Teeswater. But has the NWMO completely left town? One can still find NWMO signs about in Teeswater. And yellow no DGR signs are still present.
The municipality has disbanded the Nuclear Exploration Team, municipal employees who were hired but paid by the NWMO. The “Willing to Listen” group, a group that was only interested in what the NWMO had to say and not interested in other facts, were recognized by the Nuclear Innovation Institute for their support of the DGR project. Was the NWMO sponsoring them?
The municipality did profit from many gifts of money received from the NWMO and were getting comfortable having that money available. Now the municipality has had to come back to reality and find ways to obtain money needed for projects, etc. like most municipalities have to do. The Municipality got a $8M package which is now in a long term investment. Many people will remember where that investment came from.
Then there is the issue of the 1,500 acres of land the NWMO owns. What is to become of that land? It is being farmed, which is good, but are the people looking after the land under contract with the NWMO? Well testing sites and the bore hole sites are still present. Just what is the NWMO’s plan for this land?
Maybe the community has mended some, but occasionally NWMO/DGR talk does surface and some sly remarks are made. A number of people had and continue to have, issues over the entire situation.
So, is South Bruce still divided? Memories can run deep. The NWMO, although not as visible in South Bruce, is still around, and people are still monitoring their activity. The ordeal is not over yet.
S.A. McDonald
Culross/Teeswater
Editor’s Note: While it has been approximately six months since the NWMO announced the DGR was to be sited near Ignace, the NWMO office was still open in Teeswater until February.
