Canada has a nuclear problem… a nuclear waste problem. Since the dawn of nuclear power technology, solutions to waste have all been remarkably temporary given the longevity of the danger the material presents.

For decades, the hunt for a solution has spanned across provinces — even across countries. But the hope is that by 2023 Canada will have found a home – and permanent solution – for all of the country’s nuclear waste.

This endeavor is pitting neighbour against neighbour — community against community. And the stakes are high for the future of the nuclear industry.

CANADALAND senior producer Sarah Lawrynuik ventures to Northwestern Ontario to bring you this story.

Further reading:

• Small northwestern Ontario town considers if it’s willing to house nuclear waste from across Canada, CBC News
• Holding in the deep: What Canada wants to do with its decades-old pileup of nuclear waste, The Narwhal
• Nuclear’s Role in Canada’s Low-Carbon Future?, Energy vs Climate podcast
• 30,000 shipments of nuclear waste would move through Ontario cities, farmland under draft plan, CBC News

• How to build a nuclear warning for 10,000 years’ time, BBC News

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CORRECTION: A previous version of this story stated that monitoring of the waste site would occur for seven years after all of the nuclear waste was put in the deep geological repository. However, the NWMO has budgeted for monitoring to occur for 70 years. We regret this error.