AUSTRALIA'S nuclear research reactor at Lucas Heights plans to add a new store for radioactive waste on site from February next year, blaming the decision on delays in establishing a federal nuclear waste dump elsewhere.

The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, which runs the reactor in Sydney's south, has applied to federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett, a former anti-nuclear campaigner, to expand its capacity to hold the spent or unwanted radioactive material.

ANSTO acting chief executive officer Ron Cameron, who signed off on the application, said he wanted to create a new store to take material now held at two other locations at the Lucas Heights site so they could be freed up for "additional storage of low-level solid radioactive waste from ANSTO's ongoing operations".

"This project has become of critical importance to ANSTO's waste management plan, due to the ongoing delays in establishing a low-level radioactive waste repository in Australia," he said.

The Labor Government is expected to identify sites this year for the new nuclear dump, which will house nuclear material used for activities such as irradiating food and medical samples. It hopes to have the dump up and running by 2011, when nuclear material from Lucas Heights that has been sent overseas for reprocessing starts returning.

An ANSTO spokesman said a new storage building would "give us some breathing space until there's a determination on a central commonwealth repository". "I'm not sure what time is left (for current onsite storage), but it is very close to capacity now," he said.