A community in Sydney's south has reacted angrily to plans to store radioactive waste in the area, saying Lucas Heights is being treated like a nuclear "dumping ground".

Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) revealed that 13 cubic metres of waste will be returned to Australia by 2015 and stored for five years at the Lucas Heights nuclear facility.

The waste, which will remain toxic for centuries, was generated in Australia through the production of nuclear medicine materials and scientific research.

It was taken to France for reprocessing but will be returned under an Australian-Franco government agreement and kept in a newly built storage unit.

Sutherland Shire Mayor Carol Provan is calling on the federal government to build a long-awaited national nuclear waste repository.

"The radioactive material is to be brought back from France and stored at Lucas Heights because successive federal governments haven't got their act together and built a national storage facility," Ms Provan said.

"We have been waiting for decades.

"While we are not surprised by this latest announcement by ANSTO, I think it is unfortunate that the residents of the Sutherland Shire had to wake up to this news and we weren't forewarned."

Sutherland Shire councillor Peter Towell, whose ward covers the Lucas Heights area, said locals had safety concerns.

"We just don't want it," Mr Towell told AAP.

"As far as I'm concerned a nuclear reactor has its place in our medical system but it's not a world dumping ground."

Some environmentalists, however, have welcomed the plan.

Australian Conservation Foundation nuclear campaigner Dave Sweeney said he'd rather have the waste at Lucas Heights than dumped near outback communities.

"It puts it into an area where there's established and proven security and monitoring," Mr Sweeney said.

ANSTO chief executive Adi Paterson said most people would be surprised how small the volume of waste was.

"The store would hold around 13.2 cubic metres of waste from spent fuel - equal to a third of one shipping container - from the old HIFAR reactor at Lucas Heights," Dr Paterson said in a statement.

It would be moved to a yet-unbuilt national radioactive waste management facility by 2020.

It's been reported that the waste will be shipped from France in a custom-built 6.5-metre cask with walls more than 20cm thick.