Sunday, 27 May, 2007

ABC NT Local News

The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) says the nuclear waste dump proposed for Muckaty Station in the Northern Territory will be completely safe.

The Northern Land Council has nominated the site, 120 kilometres north of Tennant Creek, for a low- and intermediate-level repository.

Traditional owners from the region visited ANSTO's Lucas Heights facility in New South Wales to see the type of waste that could be delivered to the dump.

ANSTO chief of operations Dr Ron Cameron says the waste includes plastic gloves and contaminated clothing and is completely innocuous.

"I think some people want to use misinformation to try and get up a scare campaign. We want to let people know the type of waste that this really is," he said.

"I think that bringing traditional owners to Lucas Heights has really helped in that process."

Dr Cameron says there are repositories all around the world that are environmentally safe.

"At the moment, waste is stored in really hundreds of temporary stores all over Australia, and the best international practice is to designate one site to be the national repository - and that's what's happening here," he said.

"Such repositories exist all over the world. In fact there's one in the Champagne district of France and it works very safely without any concern."