Sites shortlisted for Australian waste facility

13 November 2015

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The Australian government has shortlisted six sites for further evaluation and public consultation for a national radioactive waste management facility. The final site selection is expected to be made next year.

In early March, the minister for industry and science invited nominations from landholders in all states and territories for a facility to store intermediate-level waste and dispose of low-level waste from Australian medical, research and industrial processes.

The government said that, by the 5 May deadline, it had received a total of 28 nominations from landholders across Australia.

In a statement today, the minister for resources, energy and Northern Australia, Josh Frydenberg, said: "Each nominated site was subject to an objective and evidence-based assessment by the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science, with the assistance of an independent advisory panel and Geoscience Australia. The government has assessed the nominations against technical, economic, social and environment factors."

The government has now drawn up a shortlist of six sites for further evaluation and public consultation. These are: Sally's Flat in New South Wales; Hale in Northern Territory; Oman Ama in Queensland; and Cortlinye, Pinkawillinie and Barndioota, all in South Australia.

Frydenberg said the government will now "engage in extensive consultation over the next 120 days with local stakeholders with an interest in the sites". The period for public comment ends on 11 March 2016. He added, "The outcomes and feedback of the consultation process will help inform the government's consideration of the next phase of detailed assessment, which will involve a further shortlist of two to three sites with an expectation of a final site being identified before the end of next year."

The department of industry and science said earlier that it foresees the project moving through the subsequent phases - site identification, facility design and site licensing, and construction and operation - over the period to the early 2020s, but pointed out that this is dependent on licences and approvals.

While Australia does not use nuclear energy it does have a long history of nuclear research, including the operation of the OPAL research reactor which produces radioisotopes for use in medicine, research and industry. The country currently has some 4250 cubic metres of low-level waste and 656 cubic metres of intermediate-level waste in temporary storage at numerous sites at universities, hospitals and laboratories. More than 100 sites are licensed to store such waste on a temporary basis. Legislation enacted in 2012 aims to establish a single-site facility for managing that waste based on a "volunteerism" approach.

Plans for a national radioactive waste management facility at Muckaty Station in the Northern Territory were shelved in June 2014 when the Northern Land Council, which represents Aboriginal peoples in the area, withdrew its nomination of the site.

Researched and written

by World Nuclear News