Antinuclear

ANSTO radioactive waste application more responsible option then remote dump plan

 1 May 12, The Beyond Nuclear Initiative (BNI) has cautiously welcomed news today that the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) will apply to build an interim storage facility at Lucas Heights for radioactive waste due to return from overseas reprocessing.

BNI coordinator Natalie Wasley says the application shows Minister Martin Ferguson’s current push for a remote dump on the Muckaty Land Trust in the NT is losing ground and that interim storage at Lucas Heights is a better option while a comprehensive and long-term management plan is considered.

“Successive federal governments have tried forcing a remote radioactive dump on unwilling Aboriginal and pastoral communities through a ‘decide-announce-defend’ approach. They have been met with fierce resistance from targeted communities and their representative state and territory governments,” said Ms Wasley.

“The application to store this waste at ANSTO would see it returning to a secured federal site where nuclear waste and nuclear expertise is currently concentrated. This is clearly a better interim plan than trucking waste thousands of kilometres to a remote area with a couple of security guards posted at the facility door”.

“A series of road and rail accidents in the NT over the past few years also highlight the risks of transporting radioactive waste to a remote site. The Northern Territory Chief Minister is on the record stating that the Port of Darwin ‘does not have the resource capacity (expertise or equipment) to respond to a radioactive incident’.

ANSTO representatives have repeatedly said the organisation has the capacity to manage the waste it produces onsite. The majority of long-lived intermediate level waste is currently at the facility and should stay there”.

“Environment and health groups, trade unions and other stakeholders have consistently called for the government to drop its search for a expendable postcode and initiative a process of radioactive waste management through an independent national inquiry that considers all management options. The time afforded by interim storage at Lucas Heights should be spent undertaking an inclusive process rather than continuing the current divisive tactic of pursuing the contested Muckaty site”.

“Minister Martin Ferguson has remained bullish and arrogant in his contempt of Territory government opposition and his refusal to meet with Muckaty Traditional Owners opposed to the waste dump. Traditional Owners have launched a federal court challenge and the NT government and supporters around the country have all have pledged to oppose the Muckaty plan for as long as it takes”.

“It is time the Australian government look to examples overseas where governments are engaging with communities to discuss radioactive waste storage options. The key principles should be waste minimisation, robust science and informed community consent for management options. The current Muckaty plan fails all of these benchmarks,” Ms Wasley concluded.

May 1, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, wastes