THE Federal Government has misled the public about the need for a nuclear industry for medical treatments, a Northern Territory emergency physician says.

Hilary Tyler, a member of the Medical Association for the Prevention of War (MAPW), said even if a nuclear reactor was needed to make medical radioisotopes, there was no need for further uranium mining. "The amount of uranium you need a year to treat everyone in Australia with cancer - you can hold that amount of uranium in your hand. It's a very tiny amount," she said.

"It's really interesting because it's not what the Government is telling us.

"The Government has continually misled the public by stating that a nuclear industry is necessary to provide treatment to people with cancer. As medical professionals, we strongly reject this."

Radioisotopes are currently used in Australia in diagnostic procedures and to treat cancer.

Dr Tyler said no patients had missed out on diagnostic or therapeutic procedures when the nuclear reactor at Lucas Heights in NSW had been closed for months at a time. "It shows that at the very least we can import our radioisotopes from other countries.

"There is a lot of research going into developing other sources for radioisotopes," she said, adding that alternatives such as cyclotrons were not nuclear-based.

"It may well be in the future that we don't need a nuclear reactor anywhere. But the Government has a nuclear agenda." Dr Tyler, from Alice Springs Hospital, said MAPW was opposed to the establishment of a nuclear waste dump at Muckaty Station, near Tennant Creek, in central Australia.

The legislation that seeks to set up Australia's first nuclear waste dump had been listed for debate in the Senate on Tuesday when the country's main focus was on the Federal Budget.

The National Radioactive Waste Management Bill 2010 passed through Federal Parliament's Lower House in February, with the Opposition abstaining from the vote.

The Australian Greens will seek to make a raft of changes to the Bill in the June sittings when it is introduced to the Senate.

The Greens want the Government to suspend Senate debate on the Bill until an investigation is complete.