Friday, 25 May, 2007

by Ashleigh Wilson
The Australian

A GROUP of Aboriginal traditional owners in the Northern Territory have offered their land to the federal Government to be used as the nation's nuclear waste dump for up to 200 years.

The Northern Land Council today announced that traditional owners at Muckaty Station, about 120km north of Tennant Creek, had nominated 1.5 square kilometres of their land to store low and medium level nuclear waste.

The move, endorsed by the full NLC council during a meeting in north-east Arnhem Land yesterday, ends months of speculation over the proposed site on Aboriginal land.

Muckaty Station will be scientifically tested to determine whether it is an appropriate location for a dump.

If the site is chosen, Aboriginal owners will receive a $12 million spending package, made up of an $11 million charitable trust and $1million in education scholarships.

Ownership of the land will be transferred to the federal Government and returned to Aboriginal people after the site is declared safe, which is expected to be up to 200 years.