Thursday 29 December 2005
NT News
by Emma Gumbleton

TRADITIONAL owners from near Tennant Creek are believed to be considering allowing the storage of the nation's nuclear waste on their land.

The Federal Government last year announced it wanted to build a nuclear waste facility at one of three potential sites in the Territory.

They are Fisher's Ridge south of Katherine, and Harts Range and Mount Everard in Central Australia.

But alternative sites on Aboriginal land can be proposed by the Northern Land Council (NLC), under legislative amendments demanded by the Territory CLP Senator Nigel Scullion.

It is understood the group from Muckaty Station are considering offering their land, 120km north of Tennant Creek, for the national nuclear waste dump.

The group is believed to be travelling to Sydney next week to inspect the Lucas Heights Nuclear Reactor.

Justin Tutty from the No Nuclear Waste Alliance said there was speculation the traditional owners have already signed an in-principal agreement that would allow the dump to go ahead.

``We know they haven't spoken to the Northern Territory Government, to environment groups or other Aboriginal groups,'' he said.

He said Muckaty Station was prone to earthquakes and a dump there would pose an environmental hazard.

A spokesman for the NLC said a number of Aboriginal groups from across the Top End have inquired about the safety of having radioactive waste stored on their land.

He said requests were not formal proposals and the NLC was not yet ready to put forward any individual sites.

The Territory Government has opposed the construction of a low-level nuclear waste repository, saying the decision had been made for political rather than scientific reasons.