Sunday 4 December 2005
NT News
by Paul Jackson

THE Federal Government's nuclear power plans would almost certainly result in high-level waste being dumped in the Territory, Environment Centre of the NT spokesman Peter Robertson said yesterday.

"Territorians can be quite certain that any existing Commonwealth dump in the NT would be expanded to receive the high-level waste generated in the form of spent fuel rods," Mr Robertson said.

"The Federal Science Minister is being absolutely disingenuous in pretending to provide assurances that this waste would not end up in the NT.

"If a nuclear power plant was built, where else would the Commonwealth dump the waste.

"They have already discovered that the only place they can get away with it is the NT. The current proposed Commonwealth dump is already intended to receive highly radioactive waste in the form of reprocessed spent fuel rods from the existing Lucas Heights research reactor.

"If this dump were built, and if a new power reactor were built, a minor amendment to the legislation currently before the Senate is all it would take for much higher quantities of even more highly radioactive waste to be dumped in the Northern Territory.

"This is why it is imperative that the proposed dump does not go ahead.

"Once constructed, this or a future government will soon move to expand it to take high level waste from around Australia or overseas."

Mr Robertson said the Minister's proposed $1 million scientific investigation into domestic nuclear power would most likely find it was not a feasible or desirable option for Australia.