The Australian Conservation Foundation says it expects the Federal Government to announce as early as next week that a nuclear waste dump will be built in the Northern Territory.

The Government has so far failed to deliver on its election promise to repeal legislation which has the power to force a waste dump to be situated in the Northern Territory.

The ACF's Dave Sweeney says the only sites still under consideration are in the Territory.

"I would put my money that Minister Ferguson will try and bulldoze through the imposition of a waste site at Muckaty at Tennant Creek," he said.

"And I think if he goes down that path and if Federal Labor allows the Minister to break with clear policy we will be in deeply contested territory."

Meanwhile, Mr Sweeney says the United States' decision to move towards nuclear power does not signal Australia will do the same.

The US President Barack Obama has committed about $8 billion in loan guarantees to construct nuclear reactors.

Mr Sweeney says nuclear power is still too expensive in Australia and is not the answer to climate change.

"Apart from questions about waste and safety and sites, the sheer question of the volume of dollars it costs to build one of these things and the length of time to build a reactor means that the free market, the big end of town when it comes to capital and funding, has moved away from nuclear power in this country."