Nuclear Waste

Government Plans

In 1980 the Federal Government initiated a process to coordinate the management of radioactive waste in Australia.

In 1985 it was decided that there should be a centralised national radioactive waste repository. Public consultation on finding a site for shallow burial of low-level and "short-lived" intermediate-level nuclear waste did not commence until 1992.

Later a process to find a site for above-ground storage of long-lived intermediate-level nuclear waste was initiated.

The first site is misleadingly referred to as the National Low Level Radioactive Waste Repository. The other project is referred to as the National Intermediate Level Radioactive Waste Store. In both cases the vast majority of the waste comes from Federal Government facilities especially from Lucas Heights in NSW. Very little of the nuclear waste is of State or Territory origin.

The two projects were closely coupled but after strong public opposition in South Australia, the Federal Government separated the two projects. Most commentators still believe that the two sites will be on Federal Government land around Woomera in South Australia.

"Short lived" nuclear waste is not waste which radioactively decays to an acceptable level in a month or even a year but waste which remains hazardous for hundreds of years. Long lived nuclear waste remains hazardous for much longer periods, effectively for ever.

The driving force for the national store is the plan to construct a bigger nuclear reactor at Lucas Heights. A pre-requisite for this plan is that there be a strategy for disposal of nuclear waste from the reactor.

A site near Woomera has been chosen for the repository. The site for the store has yet to be announced but is expected to be in the same general area as the repository.

At no stage did the Federal Government consult the public on the question of whether or not there should be central storage or disposal of nuclear waste. Environmentalists oppose the central storage/disposal model and propose that all nuclear waste should be stored on site in above-ground, appropriately engineered, secure and monitored stores.

Strong public and political opposition still needs to be overcome if the Federal Government is to proceed with these projects without serious social and political disruption.

Greater technical detail can be found on this topic by searching through the listed briefing papers and education resources at http://www.ccsa.asn.au/nic/.

• Sources and types
• Uranium mines
• Nuclear weapons test sites
• Lucas Heights
• Nuclear research and medicine
• Federal Government Plans