THE GREENS say the government is cynically using Labor's leadership ballot to sneak through its plans to establish a nuclear waste dump in the Northern Territory.

Greens senator Scott Ludlum said it was inappropriate for the government to push through the bill to dump the waste at Muckaty Station near Tennant Creek when the nation's focus was consumed with a vote on the Labor leadership.

"It is cynical in the extreme that we would seek to pass a bill as contentious or controversial as this," he told parliament on Monday.

But government Senate leader Chris Evans rejected the accusation saying it was a "low blow".

"We started this debate in the last parliamentary week. It was always scheduled to be debated today," he said.

"That it came on today at the same time as there was a leadership ballot inside the Labor Party is just coincidence."

Senator Ludlum said the proposed bill would transfer thousands of cubic metres of nuclear waste from the nuclear waste management facility at Lucas Heights in south-western Sydney to the NT.

The waste was actively monitored and looked after by technicians within a security perimeter while the removal to NT would offer neither high security nor expertise in handling the toxic material.

"It is effectively looked after by people qualified to do so, who are trained in the disposal and how it behaves over a period of time," he said.

"It would be looked after by six of the loneliest security guards on the planet."

Senator Evans said the proposed dump would follow international best practice to store waste in a central facility.

Waste would be carried in internationally approved containers.

"Best practice is to be in one location. Obviously the more remote locations are regarded also as best practice," he said.

The Greens want alternatives to dumping waste at Muckaty Station.

Debate on the National Radioactive Waste Management Bill 2010 continues.