A LEGAL challenge to the Federal Government's plan to establish a national nuclear waste dump in the Northern Territory has been taken to the Federal Court.

A team of lawyers from across the country launched the action today to challenge the nomination of the land at Muckaty Station.

Senior Ngapa traditional owner for Muckaty Station, Mark Lane Jangala, said he and many other senior elders never gave consent and were not consulted over the selection of their land.

The area in question is owned by five groups, the Ngapa, Wirntiku, Milwayi, Yapayapa and Ngarrka clans.

Traditional owners claim the Northern Land Council and Federal Government have signed into secret deals with one family in the area.

In a statement released following the launching of legal action, Mr Lane Jangala said he has been campaigning against the use of the site because of its cultural significance.

"I am senior Ngapa man for Muckaty and I did not agree to the nomination of the site, along with other senior Ngapa elders for Muckaty Station who did not agree," he said.

"We don't want it."

A Senate Inquiry chaired by Trish Crossin into the National Radioactive Waste Management Act came under fire for refusing to convene in the Barkly and give all residents of the region a chance to be heard.

Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, together with NSW firm Surry Partners and Julian Burnside QC, have begun the legal action.

Surry Partners human rights lawyer George Newhouse said: "This is an important case not only because it is about the dumping of nuclear waste on Aboriginal land, but it will set out the principles that will guide the way that Indigenous Land Councils treat the people that they are supposed to represent."