urg::: Nuclear waste dump tenders sought soon

[Len Kanaar - FoE Sydney]

Fairfax / AAP

Nuclear waste dump tenders sought soon
September 22, 2005 - 1:39PM

Tenders will soon be sought for contractors to study the suitability 
of three Northern Territory sites for a national nuclear waste dump, 
the federal government has said.

Science Minister Brendan Nelson said the process for choosing a new 
location had started on July 14 when Prime Minister John Howard 
announced he had abandoned plans for a waste dump at Woomera, in 
South Australia.

He said the final decision on the suitability of a site would rest 
with the chief executive of the Australian Radiation Protection and 
Nuclear Safety Agency, before being referred to the environment 
minister.

The three NT sites being considered are Mount Everard, 27km 
north-west of Alice Springs; Harts Range, 165km north-east of Alice 
Springs; and Fishers Ridge, 42km south-east of Katherine.

All are commonwealth-owned land currently used for defence purposes.

Dr Nelson, answering questions on notice from Labor resources 
spokesman Martin Ferguson, said it was estimated that low-level 
nuclear waste was currently stored at more than 100 locations around 
Australia.

These included Woomera and the Lucas Heights facility in Sydney, as 
well as at defence facilities in or near Melbourne, Ipswich, Wodonga, 
Adelaide, Newcastle, Darwin, Sydney and Nowra, and CSIRO facilities 
in Canberra, Sydney, Adelaide, Mt Gambier, Brisbane and Melbourne.

He said the low-level waste included items such as contaminated 
laboratory equipment such as protective clothing and rubber gloves, 
lightly contaminated soil, smoke detectors and exit signs.

Intermediate level waste includes residues from overseas processing 
of Australian spent research reactor fuel, radiopharmaceutical 
production residues and disused radioactive sources from industry, 
medicine and research.


© 2005 AAP