A nuclear expert has taken aim at claims a planned waste dump in remote Australia is needed to house low level radioactive waste from hospitals.

Speaking ahead of a Senate debate this week on the National Radioactive Waste Management Bill, Dr Peter Karamoskos was critical of plans for the proposed dump.

He said most radioactive isotopes generated from nuclear medicine were designated as "very low level" waste, which decayed to safe levels with in a few days to a few weeks.

"The claim that a waste facility is required to support nuclear medicine is mischievous scare-mongering," Dr Karamoskos said.

Dr Karamoskos is a nuclear radiologist from Melbourne who will speak at a forum in Darwin on Monday evening about the issue.

He told AAP it was also "absolute nonsense" to suggest equipment used during nuclear work in hospitals would require housing at the Muckaty dump.

"How many lab coats are there?" he asked.

The Muckaty repository would not adequately house intermediate level waste that was far more dangerous, he said.

"The truly hazardous long-lived waste that needs to be isolated for thousands of years is only going to be in an above ground shed," he said.

"There is no disposal solution. It is just going to sit there."

The federal government has spruiked the importance of the nuclear dump, saying Australia has sought a site to house the waste since 1988.

The Opposition supported the bill to establish the dump in the lower house vote and has signalled it will again back the measure.

Traditional owners of Muckaty Station have protested against the proposed dump and a federal court case is yet to rule on which Aboriginal groups are the rightful custodians of the area.