THE rural community which hosts a national radioactive waste dump could face higher insurance costs and the economic benefits of the project have been exaggerated, a report prepared for environmental groups suggests.
A report to be released today by Conservation Council SA warns that the federal or state governments could have to meet the cost of insuring the local community for radioactive-related accidents which wouldn’t be covered by standard insurance.
The report was prepared by the left-wing Australia Institute think tank.
While 45 jobs have been promised at a national radioactive waste management facility, the report found the actual impact on the local employment market would be limited as workers were drawn away from other regional industries.
The Federal Government has short-listed two sites near Kimba and one near Hawker as possible locations for the waste facility.
Postal votes to help determine whether the two communities would accept the waste dump have been put on hold after legal action was launched in the Supreme Court by the Barngarla indigenous people.
The Barngarla Determination Aboriginal Corporation argues that native title holders who live outside the municipal borders of Kimba should be entitled to vote in the postal ballot.
The case is scheduled to be heard by the full court on Thursday.
The proposer facility would house low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste.
The Australia Institute report questioned the need to transfer intermediate-level waste from the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor campus in Sydney to the proposed SA facility.
Antinuclear 
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