Today – Nuclear fuel cycle royal commission final report to be made public
Nuclear fuel cycle royal commission: Final report expected to reiterate support for dump, ABC News 9 May 16 By Daniel Keane The final report arising from South Australia’s nuclear fuel cycle royal commission is almost certain to leave crucial questions about possible future dump sites unanswered, an anti-nuclear spokesman says.
Key points:
- Final report to be made public after commissioner Kevin Scarce briefs Government
- Report expected to reiterate support for waste dump
- Bipartisanship by major parties could benefit Greens, political expert says
The report was handed down to the State Government on Friday, but its contents will not be made public until later today, after royal commissioner Kevin Scarce briefs State Cabinet.
Tentative findings released in February recommended the creation of a high-level waste nuclear dump that would store 138,000 tonnes of spent fuel from around the world, as well as a separate “above-ground interim storage facility”.
Friends of the Earth’s national nuclear campaigner Dr Jim Green said South Australia could end up with “the biggest waste stockpile in existence”, but said it was the interim storage site that could prove the greater security concern.
“The plan is to import the waste and store it above ground – perhaps on the Eyre Peninsula, perhaps somewhere further north – for some decades before they even begin to consider the option of ultimate disposal of this waste,” he said.
“The reason they’re configuring it that way is because it will cost so many tens of billions of dollars to build a nuclear waste dump that they simply won’t have those funds until they’ve imported vast amounts of waste in the first place.”……..
He said the interim report had ignored accidents, such as the closure of a New Mexico waste repository because of a chemical explosion in 2014.
“There was also no mention in the tentative findings report of the royal commission about a fire at a nuclear waste dump in Nevada in the US last year,” he said.
“There’s no mention of a nuclear waste dump in Germany where they’re in the process of exhuming 126,000 barrels of nuclear waste because of water infiltration and corrosion.”…….http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-05-09/nuclear-fuel-cycle-royal-commission-final-report-to-be-revealed/7394400
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