Residents in South Australia’s Flinders Ranges have voted narrowly against having a nuclear waste dump in their region.

About 52% of the people who took part in the ballot voted against the federal government’s facility being established on land near Hawker.

The result came after a similar poll of residents on SA’s Eyre Peninsula voted almost 62% in favour of the dump being built on one of two sites near Kimba.

The federal government is yet to respond to the poll, but environmental groups said it should rule out the Flinders Ranges as a potential dump site.

Australian Conservation Foundation campaigner Dave Sweeney said the result came amid clear opposition from regional pastoralists and the area’s native title holders.

“There is no broad community support for a national radioactive waste facility in the Flinders Ranges,” Sweeney said.

The Friends of the Earth said it was time for the federal government to abandon the dump plan altogether.

“The government has previously stated that 65% would be a figure that would indicate the broad community support they need to select a site,” spokeswoman Mara Bonacci said.

“These ballot results show that the minister does not have that support.”

Two sites near Kimba and one near Hawker have been shortlisted as possible locations for the dump, which would be designed to take Australia’s low- to intermediate-level waste.

Most of the material comes from nuclear medicine.

The community ballots are not binding on the government, which has promised to provide financial incentives to the community around the selected site.