A cattle station in South Australia has been earmarked as the possible site for the nation's first nuclear waste dump.

Key points: Resources Minister says the SA site is not the final decision

Resources Minister says the SA site is not the final decision Residents will be given 12 months to negotiate a community package

Residents will be given 12 months to negotiate a community package The site is owned by former Liberal senator Grant Chapman

The Wallerberdina station near Barndioota in the Flinders Ranges has been picked after months of consultation which followed the release of six possible sites for the facility.

Resources Minister Josh Frydenberg insisted it was not the final decision and said further consultation and analysis would need to be undertaken.

Local residents will be given 12 months to negotiate a community package, with up to $2 million expected to be made available for projects.

Federal Liberal MP for Grey, Rowan Ramsey, has welcomed the move but said a final decision would still take some time.

"This is not a decision to say, well, this facility is definitely going at Barndioota in the Hawker community," he said.

The station is jointly owned by former South Australian senator and Liberal party president Grant Chapman.

It is currently used to graze cattle.

Speaking on 891 ABC Adelaide, Mr Chapman dismissed reports the land would be sold for four times the current market value.

"We won't make much money, I mean I think they're talking about taking maybe 100 hectares from our 25,000-hectare property and the per-hectare value of that country's not very great," Mr Chapman said.

Mr Chapman was a strong supporter of storing nuclear waste in Australia during his time as a senator, chairing a Senate committee into the subject.

'It's like getting news of a death'

Regina McKenzie (left) says the Indigenous community is shattered by the announcement. ( ABC North and West: Michael Dulaney )

Adnyamathanha woman Regina McKenzie said the local Indigenous community has been shattered by the announcement.

"It was shock and then a lot of emotion, myself and my sister said it's like getting news of a death, that's the kind of emotion we felt," she said.

"Our culture in that area is being ignored, it's not good for our area, I don't think, it's something we will fight against, we don't want a waste dump in our area whatsoever."

Tony Sawers, the owner of Moralana Station, which adjoins the proposed nuclear site, said concerns expressed by all adjoining property owners in a submission to the Government had fallen on deaf ears.

"They'll say one thing then do another and very clearly in this instance they [said they] weren't going to put it in a place against people's wishes, and doing statistically bias surveys and offering out economic inducements to bias outcomes, we are up against it."

Hawker business owner John Teauge said despite some opposition, the community was generally receptive of the proposal.

"I wouldn't say Hawker is divided, there may be a few people who do not want to see it, but if it's only low-level waste, as they tell us, I think it has to go somewhere," he said.

"Australia has to put it somewhere, it's all sitting in the cities now, people are sitting with it anyhow, so if Hawker can benefit from it, I think good on Hawker, that's what I believe."

Successive governments have, for years, been searching for a site to store low and intermediate level nuclear waste such as laboratory waste and items used in medical procedures.

The other five sites previously shortlisted by the Government were Hill End near Bathurst in NSW, Oman Ama in the Southern Border region of Queensland, Cortlinye and Pinkawilnie in South Australia, and Hale near Alice Springs in the Northern Territory.

Co-location of SA high-level dump not yet considered

The South Australian Government is conducting its own investigation into the possibility of housing a high-level nuclear waste dump in the state with the decision to be determined at the end of a royal commission in May.

Tentative findings released by the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission in February ruled out a nuclear energy plant but found an international waste facility was viable.

Mr Chapman said the idea of putting a high- and low-level dump on the property had not been brought to his attention.

"The State Government will, I assume, make recommendations through the royal commission as to what they are going to do on the high-level waste," he said.

Energy Minister Tom Koutsantonis did not rule out the possibility of a co-location if either dump goes ahead.

"I don't think you can rule anything out but in the end we are in the hands of a royal commission, the highest form of inquiries that we have, to give people the confidence that this isn't a political decision," he said.

"That this is a scientific one that is seeking community permission to start a new industry."