THE NT nuclear waste dump will come a step closer today when debate takes place in the Senate on the Radioactive Waste Management Bill.

Traditional owners are in Canberra trying to persuade senators to stop the complex being built at Muckaty Station, near Tennant Creek. Campaign leader Dianne Stokes has urged them to vote against the Bill.

And the Central Land Council said the Federal Government was riding roughshod over Aboriginal people's concerns.

Land council director David Ross said the management of nuclear waste should be treated in a proper scientific way rather than bribing "the poorest sector of the community".

"Pushing ahead at Muckaty and ignoring the serious level of dispute about the nomination process would be a disaster for traditional owners, their families and the broader Tennant Creek region," he said. "The last thing we need is more disputes and more conflict.