Western Australia Shire of Leonora keen to make money by hosting radioactive trash

Leonora lobbies for nuclear waste dump in its backyard ABC Goldfields By Jarrod Lucas 18 Aug 17 Leonora in WA’s northern Goldfields is putting together a bid for an outback repository to store radioactive waste.

The Federal Government’s decade-long search for a national radioactive waste management facility appears far from over.

This has provided a window of opportunity for the Shire of Leonora to press its case again to host a national repository for waste arising from medical, industrial and scientific use.

Leonora looked to have missed its chance in November 2015 when it was left off a short-list of six sites, five of which have since been ruled out by the government.

On that occasion, the Shire put together a last-minute bid, nominating about 81 hectares of freehold land owned by Councillor Glenn Baker.

An application for an exploration license for a new site, north-west of Leonora, is currently being assessed by multiple State Government departments.

Shire of Leonora president Peter Craig conceded there were no guarantees the new site would receive state approval.

But he said the Council believed the waste dump was an opportunity worth pursuing.

“It’s a long-term prospect – we’re certainly putting ourselves out there there’s no doubt about that,” Mr Craig said. “We feel going forward there’s a lot of opportunities, money to be made.”

….He said the repository would be built underground and the Goldfields mining industry is perfectly placed to build it.

“We’re probably going to have some opposition from the State Government I would imagine, but at the end of the day, the Federal government would more than likely overrule it if the land is in a location which is suitable.”…… http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-18/remote-wa-town-wants-radioactive-waste-dump-in-its-backyard/8821240