National Facility for Radioactive Wastes

The disposal of Australia’s radioactive waste has a contentious history. It remains problematic because of perceptions of risk associated with transport of waste to any repository, and the potential impacts on people and the environment. The Commonwealth Government needs to find a permanent solution for waste from Australia’s past nuclear activities, as well as the ongoing waste streams from scientific research, radiomedicine, and the new research reactor at Lucas Heights.

From 1991 to 1999, the Commonwealth ran a scientifically-based nationwide program to select an optimal site for a repository. Sites in South Australia were recommended, but an attempt at compulsory acquisition was successfully challenged by the South Australian Government. In 2000, it passed the Nuclear Waste Storage Facility (Prohibition) Act 2000 (SA) to prohibit construction or operation of a nuclear waste facility in the state. The Western Australian Government passed similar legislation. The Commonwealth then abandoned its plan to establish a national low-level waste repository in South Australia, citing a 2004 Federal Court decision and a lack of cooperation from the states and territories. It declared that the states and territories would carry responsibility for their own waste, and stated its intention to co-locate low-level and intermediate-level waste facilities on Commonwealth land for its own waste. The Commonwealth Radioactive Waste Management Act 2005 established procedures for selecting and acquiring land for a waste repository in the Northern Territory. It listed three Commonwealth Department of Defence sites. Subsequently, another site proposed by the Northern Land Council was accepted for suitability assessment. Parsons Brinckerhoff has been engaged to undertake these studies. The Commonwealth Radioactive Waste Management Legislation Amendment Act 2006 provided for the return of nominated Aboriginal land and removed access to any counter legislation.

Key points are:

• The 16-year process to select a suitable site is still incomplete.
• Radioactive waste from Lucas Heights remains on-site, and states and territories continue to make their own arrangements.
• The suitability of a site for Commonwealth waste, selected from the list of four now being considered, cannot be said to be optimal from an environmental, scientific or socio-economic standpoint.
• Widespread criticism concerning the adequacy of consultation suggests that any new selection process for a national facility would require a new assessment framework to be developed, incorporating improved consultative arrangements.

Documentation
Department of Education, Science and Training web site, Radiation and radioactive waste.
Brian Lloyd, ‘The national radioactive waste facility’, Research Papers of the Parliamentary Library Service, no. 1, Northern Territory Library, Darwin, 2006.