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» Radioactive Waste

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Radioactive Waste
Why We Oppose The Dump » PDF Downloads » More Information

Proposed nuclear waste dump for the NT

The Commonwealth Minister for Science Brendan Nelson announced in July 2005 that one of three Commonwealth-owned areas in the NT - Hart's Range and Mt Everard in Central Australia, and Fisher's Ridge near Katherine - will be the site of the controversial Commonwealth radioactive waste dump. Highly radioactive waste from the Lucas Heights reactor in Sydney is likely to be shipped to the NT via Darwin Harbour. It will remain dangerous for tens of thousands of years.

To view ECNT's media release click here

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NT No-Waste Alliance

ECNT is a member of the NT No-Waste Alliance, comprised of groups of concerned residents and activists in Alice Springs, Tennant Creek, Katherine and Darwin.
To visit the No Waste Alliance website click here
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27 April 2006

Why we oppose the proposed Commonwealth radioactive waste dump in the Northern Territory .

We believe there are many reasons why the Commonwealth radioactive waste dump should not be located in the NT. These reasons include:

  • The Commonwealth is misleading the public about the purpose of the dump: its main purpose is for highly radioactive 'reprocessed spent fuel rods' from the Lucas Heights reactors in Sydney, NOT for hospital waste and other low-level waste.

  • These reprocessed spent fuel rods are amongst the most highly dangerous radioactive materials produced by the nuclear industry anywhere in the world. This waste remains dangerous to people, wildlife and the environment for thousands of years.

  • The Commonwealth wants to find a dump site that is 'out-of-sight, out-of-mind' so that the new Lucas Heights reactor can be approved without Sydney people having to worry about the reactor's dangerous radioactive waste.

  • Many scientists, doctors and community groups have said that the Lucas Heights reactors are not necessary (on claimed medical grounds) and pose a big risk to surrounding communities, including communities that end up with the dangerous long-lived radioactive waste.

  • Independent experts have said that the safest and most secure place to store the Lucas Heights radioactive waste is at Lucas Heights, not thousands of kilometers away in outback NT.

  • If this dump is built in the NT, there is a very real chance that in the future it will be expanded to take high level radioactive waste from nuclear reactors in Europe, Asia and North America. There is a growing global crisis in high level waste disposal and many overseas companies and governments are looking to Australia to dump their waste*.

  • Many communities and people, and future generations, will be affected by a decision to accept the waste dump. Communities all along the transport route will be at risk; people anywhere downstream from the dump will be at risk; the marine environment will be at risk if the material is shipped to Darwin. If there is a major leak or accident at the dump, or along the transport route, the contamination will affect people for thousands of years.

  • How long will the government be taking care of that waste dump, because the waste will be radioactive for many, many generations to come?  Will they guarantee that it will be looked after for as long as the waste is radioactive? They can’t!

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* THE head of the world nuclear industry has joined a growing push for Australia to store nuclear waste in the outback as a
"service to the world".

And on the eve of tomorrow's 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, World Nuclear Association director-general John Ritch defended his industry as being unfairly tainted by "one of the most exaggerated events in human history".

Visiting Australia for the first time, Mr Ritch applauded the Howard Government for starting to "guide the public towards a debate" on nuclear power, while calling on Labor to finally drop its anti-nuclear stance.

"I'm delighted to see your Labor party is now struggling to come to terms with previous dogmas," he told The Age. "I'd be happy to debate Mr Beazley any time."

Mr Ritch said Australia 's political and geological stability made it an ideal home for a nuclear waste repository.

"Australia is beautifully positioned to be a world leader in the full nuclear fuel cycle."

"I don't think Australia should be the home of the only repository. I think there should be several countries, and the United States should be one of them, that perform services to the world: the mining of uranium, the enriching and manufacturing of uranium into fuel, the use of uranium …
in energy production, and the management of waste."

Mr Ritch said Australians had nothing to fear from accepting radioactive waste, although he was initially hesitant to say how long it would need to be stored. "I don't want to get into figures but, yes, it's a long time. Yes, we're talking about thousands of years … That sounds like a long time, but the earth has been here for billions of years and there are many places on earth that have been geologically stable for many millions of years."

Australia gets push on N-waste
By Liz Minchin
The Age - Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
April 25, 2006
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2 February 2006

New waste dump Federal Mininster should review predecessor's pronouncement. Waste dump assessment tender update. The Environment Centre of the Northern Territory (ECNT) says the new Federal Minister responsible for the proposed Commonwealth radioactive waste dump in the NT, Hon. Julie Bishop, should not accept her predecessor’s pronouncement that a dump would be located in the NT and is urged to visit the NT.

To view ECNT's media release click here

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13 October 2005. Federal nuclear waste dump legislation- NT ‘nuked’ by Canberra’s draconian Bills - Health scare tactics refuted

The Environment Centre of the Northern Territory (ECNT) has condemned today’s introduction of draconian Federal legislation that aims to override a range of NT laws and remove the ability of the NT government or public to take legal action against the imposition of a radioactive waste dump on the NT.

ECNT also rejected as base scaremongering the statements by Senator Scullion and David Tollner MHR that the Federal government was acting on health grounds.

ECNT Coordinator Peter Robertson said the alarmist statements by the NT Federal politicians were contradicted by the far more authoritative statements from the former Chief Medical Research Scientist at ANSTO’s nuclear medicine facility at Lucas Heights, Professor Barry Allen.

Professor Allen stated: ‘Medically I do not believe the new [Lucas Heights] reactor is essential…I think it was inappropriate [of the Federal government] to claim it was required to save lives with nuclear medicine’. (Report of the NSW Parliamentary Inquiry into Transportation and Storage of Nuclear Waste, 2004.)

Mr Robertson said Senator Scullion and Mr Tollner were elected to look after the interests of Territorians, not meekly cave in to Ministerial pressure and then try to justify the ‘nuking’ of NT laws by resorting to groundless scaremongering.

“The Federal government has blatantly lied about the waste dump and is now resorting to one of the most draconian, anti-democratic pieces of legislation ever introduced into Federal parliament.

“A nuclear waste dump in the NT is not necessary in order for Australians to have access to state-of-the-art health care – this is a myth.”
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No Medical Justification for Nuclear Dump. A media release by the Medical Association for the Prevention of War (October 2005)

“’Rocks in the head’ is not an argument for anything. To stop further misleading health claims, the medical facts of the case need to be made clear to all Territorians,” commented Dr Peter Tait of the Medical Association for Prevention of War Australia ( MAPW) in response to Senator Scullion’s new comments about the need for a nuclear waste facility on health grounds.

To view MAPW media release click here or MAPW Website click here
For further comment:
Dr Peter Tait, Vice President, Medical Association for Prevention of War Australia (MAPW), Ph AH 8952 6160, or WH 8951 4444.

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Talking Straight Out - Stories from the Irati Wanti campaign
The story of how the Kupa Piti Kungka Tjuta fought the nuclear waste dump proposed for South Australia, and won!
'This valuable book is both a celebration of their victory over the threat of a radioactive waste dump in the traditional lands of the Kupa Piti Kungka Tjuta, and a tool for those who continue to fight nuclear threats around Australia'.
Ph. ECNT on 8981 1984 for a copy. $29.95 each.
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PDF PDF Downloads:
 

Spent Nuclear Fuel - Reprocessing and Repositories. A report by Jim Green, National Nulcear Campaigner, Friends of the Earth, Australia, October 2006.
To download the report click here (123kb)

 

Key findings of the 2004 NSW Parliamentary Inquiry into Transportation and Storage of Nuclear Waste.
To download the flyer click here (113KB)

 

Waste Dump Radioactivity. A bar graph comparison between ‘low level/short lived waste’ and ‘long-lived intermediate level waste’ destined for proposed NT dump. Also an introduction to 'Radiation Basics'.
To download this document click here (90KB)

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For more information on the no waste dump campaign and/or Darwin's 'No Radioactive Waste Dump Committee':
Justin Tutty at No Waste Alliance: Email Justin Ph: 8945-6810
Emma King at Environment Centre (NT : Email Emma Ph: 8981-1984
Nat Wasley at Arid Lands Environment Centre: Email Nat Ph: 8952-2011

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See also:
Uranium Mining; Nuclear and Climate Change; Latest Media Releases

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The Environment Centre of the Northern Territory
3/98 Woods St, Darwin » Postal Address: GPO Box 2120, Darwin 0801 NT
Phone: 08 8981 1984 » Fax: 08 8941 0387 » E-mail: admin@ecnt.org