The waste could be trucked directly from the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor southwest of Sydney to the proposed dump near Tennant Creek. But a report commissioned by the Federal Government advises sending the waste through SA "would avoid the emotive movement of waste through the Blue Mountains". Seven years ago SA avoided becoming home to the nation's waste, which was then destined for a site at Woomera.
The Government is now planning to dump thousands of tonnes of waste at Muckaty Station, north of Tennant Creek.
Under the new plan up to 8000 tonnes of low level and short-lived intermediate level waste will be shipped either by rail or road, with B-double semi trailers moving the shipping containers along the state's highways.
Another 67 tonnes of intermediate level waste - reprocessed spent fuel rods - will be shipped to Adelaide from Scotland and France, destined for the dump.
This waste, which was sent to Europe for processing in the 1990s, must be returned by 2015 for long-term storage.