Indigenous communities are demanding the federal government stand by its election promise to scrap legislation which lays the groundwork for a nuclear waste dump in the Northern Territory.

Resources Minister Martin Ferguson has said the government will not give up the search for a suitable site somewhere in Australia, after four sites were shortlisted by the previous government.

But "Mitch", a representative for two indigenous communities near one of the shortlisted sites, Harts Range, says four years of uncertainty is "devastating" the community.

"One of my grandfathers said it's like waking up every morning and hitting your head into a piece of steel, you just can't get away from it," she said.

"But every morning you've got to wake up and that's still on their shoulders that this hasn't been resolved."

Mr Ferguson has refused to say when his government will scrap the legislation, or when cabinet will receive recommendations from a scientific report on which site is most suitable.

There have been concerns the government will not repeal the Commonwealth Radioactive Waste Management Act (CRWMA), after it rejected a motion to scuttle the law earlier this year.

The Howard government passed the Act in 2006, giving the federal government the power to impose a nuclear waste dump on the Northern Territory.

The coalition short-listed Harts Range, Fishers Ridge and Mount Everard as possible sites for a dump and Muckaty Station, about 120km north of Tennant Creek, was later controversially nominated as a possible site by the Northern Land Council.

Labor promised to repeal the Act during the last federal election campaign.

However the communities are worried that the issue has still not been resolved, Mitch said.

"What we've had since the Rudd election is no word."

She said the past two responsible ministers had refused to visit the area, which was prone to flooding and severe tropical weather.

Resources Minister Martin Ferguson was refusing to consult with the community before choosing a site, Mitch said.

A representative for the Larrakia Nation at Darwin, Donna Jackson, said the CRWMA contravened articles in the United Nations Declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples (UN-DRIP) in relation to storing hazardous materials.

"It is hypocritical of the ALP government to support the UN-DRIP and continue with Howard's waste dump plan," she said.