Antinuclear

To handle the excess nuclear waste from Lucas Heights the government will spend another $45m to send the materials to the US for “processing and permanent storage”, the budget papers say.

“The government will provide $45m over five years to send two shipments of spent nuclear fuel assemblies from the Open Pool Australian Lightwater (Lucas Heights) nuclear research reactor to the United States for processing and permanent storage,” the government said.

“Disposal of the spent fuel assemblies will create additional capacity for the temporary storage of spent fuel … which is essentially for the continued operation of the reactor.”

Over the four years from June the government will spend $22.5m to develop “detailed design options” for a national facility to “address Australia’s future radioactive waste management requirements”.

The Lucas Heights, or OPAL reactor, uses low-level enriched uranium fuel to produce neutrons for nuclear medicine production and for “environmental and material research”, the government said.

Money to fund the ramped-up operations at Lucas Heights included funding to meet the increased costs of “nuclear fuel and electricity”.