THE search for a suitable site for a high-level nuclear waste dump in Australia is back on because radioactive material currently stored overseas will be returned to Australia in five years, it has been revealed.

The material, described as "spent fuel" from the Lucas Heights research reactor, had been sent to France for re-processing.

Under French law it must be repatriated to Australia by 2015.

Responding to questions from Opposition frontbencher, Nick Minchin in Senate estimates hearings, the Government confirmed Australia is under an obligation to "have a facility built in time to receive that waste from France in 2015".

"There is waste from France, from reprocessing of ANSTO research reactor spent fuel, that will return to Australia in 2015," a departmental official told the Economic Committee.

The admission means the Government is faced with a tight time frame in which to identify the preferred site, conduct consultations with affected parties, meet environmental and other planning requirements, and build the super-secure facility.

According to evidence tendered, three sites, all in the Northern Territory, "two in the Alice Springs region and one in the Katherine region", are being considered.

The Government also confirmed another site, described as being "a volunteer site on Aboriginal land near Tennant Creek", was being assessed. A site in the Northern Territory now seems inevitable where constitutional limits on Commonwealth power do not apply.