A Ngapa land owner has told a Senate inquiry there is no reason a nuclear waste dump should not be built at Muckaty Station, north of Tennant Creek.

Amy Lauder told the inquiry a nuclear waste dump at Muckaty Station will help her people build a better life for their children.

Ms Lauder says other Indigenous groups who are opposed to the dump, simply want a share of the Commonwealth compensation that will be paid for the site.

"We nominated our land because we want to make better life for our children," Ms Lauder said.

The Northern Land Council told the inquiry Ngapa ownership of the proposed dump site is not disputed.

But David Sweeney from the Australian Conservation Foundation says the traditional owners only want the dump because they desperately need the money.

He says Muckaty is not a suitable area for a waste dump.

Western Australian Greens Senator Scott Ludlam says the government's nuclear waste dump legislation is ambiguous and traditional land owners could be severely disadvantaged.

Senator Ludlam is a member of a Senate committee examining the legislation.

He says the Government has not consulted enough communities about the proposed site for a nuclear waste dump at Muckaty Station, north of Tennant Creek.

"The amount of compensation in a way is immaterial," Senator Ludlam said.

"If you take $12 million and divide it over a period of 300 years, or a period of 10,000 years, the amount of money is absolutely insignificant.

"But it is still not going to be any form of compensation for the permanent sacrificing of an area to this kind of radioactive material."

Australian National University researcher, Dr James Prest told the inquiry that the Government's nuclear waste legislation is ambiguous.

He says future land owners may have little or no say over how a nuclear waste facility is managed.

"There is no legal mechanism created, in terms of a person who would represent the rights of future generations," Dr Prest said.

The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) says a waste dump will be safe and conform with all international standards.

Adi Paterson, from ANSTO, told the inquiry radioactive medical waste was being stored in several places around Australia and a secure, central storage facility would be safer.

"The site should be an area of low population density," Mr Paterson said.