IT'S a brave nuke world. The Northern Land Council has confronted notions that Aborigines are anti-development sticks-in-the-mud who want to lock up their land for all time.

They say they are motivated in the interests of all Australians in pushing for a nuclear waste dump to be built on Aboriginal land at Muckaty station, north of Tennant Creek.

The NLC's chairman, Wali Wunungmurra, and the NLC's full 82-member council, sitting in Mataranka, south of Katherine, yesterday issued a strong statement as a "clarification" after new NLC chief executive Kim Hill made ambiguous statements on radio saying traditional owners had not made up their minds about wanting the dump.

Mr Wunungmurra said there was no doubt. "Ngapa (desert rain tribe) traditional owners overwhelmingly support the nomination of their country at Muckaty station for the commonwealth radioactive waste facility, as does NLC full council," he said.

"Traditional owners and full council members know how important it is for Australia to find an environmentally acceptable site, by agreement, so all Australians can continue to receive benefits such as medical treatment from nuclear medicine."

The NLC and traditional owners made their pro-dump position clear at last year's Garma festival, but it gained little traction. Environmentalists and Labor supporters refused to accept that Aborigines would embrace nuclear waste, and suspected a dirty deal afoot.

Mr Wunungmurra's new Mataranka statement leaves no doubt.

The NLC's stance has put it at odds with the Territory Government, with former chief minister Clare Martin saying she was not against a dump but wanted any site nominated in consultation.

Chief Minister Paul Henderson has now gone further, saying he doesn't want the dump at all, suggesting it should be built at Roxby Downs in South Australia.

The former federal Government had identified three remote Defence locations in the Territory for the site but was delighted to find the Ngapa traditional owners offering up their land.