Even in 1998, the nuclear lobby and Nick Minchin, were scheming for an international nuclear waste dump in South Australia
Kazzi Jai Fight To Stop Nuclear Waste Dump In Flinders Ranges SA, 29 Mar 19, Guess when this was written (answer at the end)…..and also is a poignant reminder of the role Nick Minchin played in all of this!
“Claims that a low-level radioactive waste dump will be the thin edge of the wedge are not “scare-mongering”, as Nick Minchin has repeatedly claimed. Numerous government reports make it clear that the proposed low-level dump could be followed by an above-ground store for long lived, intermediate-level radioactive wastes (including wastes from thereprocessing of spent fuel from the nuclear reactor in the Sydney suburb of Lucas Heights). In addition, the federal government plans to dismantle nuclear reactors at Lucas Heights and dump them in SA.
The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), which operates the Lucas Heights reactor, has said that if overseas reprocessing contracts fall through, spent fuel could be sent to SA for “extended interim storage”. In the event of reprocessing contracts falling through, the federal government might also attempt to establish a spent fuel reprocessing/conditioning plant in SA.
If the federal government succeeds in establishing a dump in SA, then Pangea Resources, the company which wants to dump high-level waste in Australia, can be expected to try its luck in SA.
James Voss, president of Pangea Resources, visited Australia in 1998. Voss offered to operate the proposed low-level waste dump.
Later that year, a leaked corporate video revealed that Pangea, with funding from British Nuclear Fuels Limited, was scheming to dump 75,000 tonnes of high-level radioactive waste in Australia. In 1999, Minchin apologised in the Senate for falsely claiming that no federal minister had met with Pangea.“…..
“The federal government asserts that the plan for a centralised waste dump and store are driven by scientific and safety considerations. The real agenda is political: moving radioactive waste away from Lucas Heights to reduce local opposition to the planned new reactor.
The proposed new reactor would generate another 1600 fuel rods, and according to ANSTO documents, annual generation of radioactive waste would increase up to 12-fold depending on the waste category.
Minchin’s mantra is that South Australians should accept the waste because they will benefit from medical radioisotopes produced. However, the lie that a new reactor is needed for medical isotope production has been exposed from an unlikely source — Dr Barry Elison, president of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Physicians in Nuclear Medicine.
Elison issued a press release in June saying a new reactor was “vital” for isotope production. Yet a month later, when asked how doctors coped during the February-May closure of the Lucas Heights reactor, Elison admitted he was not aware that it had been down!”…… The year – August 2000! An excerpt from an article by Jim Green….”South Australia says No to N-dump
Antinuclear 
Everywhere in the world, spent nuclear fuel is classified as high-level nuclear waste and it will remain radioactive for eternity. After 30 yrs, spent nuclear fuel is still 10,000 times more radioactive than uranium ore and will take 10 million years to reduce to the same radioactivity as uranium ore (Canadian Nuclear Authority). Yet the Australian govnt and ANSTO classify spent nuclear fuel from Lucas Heights as intermediate-level nuclear waste. The Federal Liberal govt want to use South Australia as a dumping ground for high-level nuclear waste from Lucas Heights (and i suspect from around the world) and are using low-level nuclear waste as a smoke screen. We know how radioactive high-level nuclear waste is thanks to the Canadian Authority, but no one has told us how radioactive low-level and intermediate-level nuclear waste is?
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