Australia's first nuclear waste dump is likely to be sited in the Northern Territory.

Resources and Energy Minister Martin Ferguson has revealed Muckaty Station, about 120 kilometres north of Tennant Creek, as the location the Federal Government will pursue for a national radioactive waste repository.

"We will proceed firstly with the only voluntary site that we have, and that goes to the Ngapa land with respect to the Muckaty Station," he told 105.7 ABC Darwin.

Mr Ferguson said several sites preferred by the Howard government would not be pursued.

This is "despite the fact that scientifically they actually stack up", he said.

Should environmental and scientific assessments fail at the Muckaty site, Mr Ferguson said the nuclear waste dump could be located elsewhere in Australia.

"I also have the capacity, if I assess that that is not a proper site, to then open up to a national voluntary site nomination process."

He said the Government would this week repeal Howard government legislation that would have enabled the Government to force a nuclear waste dump on the Northern Territory.

He said the radioactive waste that would be stored at the site was not linked to Australia's uranium exports, but to isotopes used in medical treatments.