SALLYS Flat north of Bathurst has been identified as one of six possible sites to host Australia's first permanent nuclear waste dump for low-level and intermediate waste.
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The Turnbull government yesterday released a shortlist of six sites chosen from 28 voluntarily nominated sites around Australia and also including Hale in the Northern Territory, Cortlinye, Pinkawillinie and Barndioota in South Australia and Oman Ama in Queensland.
Following release of the much-anticipated shortlist, locals who live in the six locations will now be consulted over the next four months about what will eventually be a remote, 100-hectare site.
A shorter list of three sites will be released next year and by the end of the year, after the next federal election, the government will finally name its preferred site, which is due to be operating by the end of the decade.
Resources Minister Josh Frydenberg said Australians should embrace the eventual construction of a permanent facility as it would allow Australian to continue to enjoy the benefits of nuclear medicine, for example.
"This is something in Australia's interests, we are required to store our own waste and this will also allow Australians to continue to benefit from the nuclear industry, in particular nuclear medicine," he said.
"This is completely independent from the nuclear fuel cycle royal commission process underway in South Australia."
Australia has the equivalent of about two Olympic-sized swimming pools of low-level nuclear waste at 100 sites across the country and the facility will store this waste, as well as low and intermediate-level radioactive waste from the Lucas Heights facility in Sydney.
The waste includes laboratory items such as paper, plastic and glassware, material from medical treatment and even radioactive soil. One in two Australians is expected to require potentially life-saving nuclear medicines in their lifetime.
Five of the six shortlisted sites are in Liberal or National-held seats while one is Labor held. Mr Frydenberg stressed there was "no politics" in the selection of the shortlist, which had been compiled by his department on the advice of an independent expert panel.
Last month, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull suggested Australia could look to expand its nuclear industry, arguing Australians had a "perfectly reasonable" view that said "we have got the uranium, we mine it, why don't we process it, turn it into the fuel rods, lease it to people overseas, when they are done, we bring them back and we have got stable, very stable geology in remote locations and a stable political environment".
Mr Frydenberg cautioned that under current legislation, "Australia can't take another country's waste" and thus, the possible expansion of the industry was not at this stage possible.
Australian-produced waste that had been sent to France, the US and Britain between 1996 and 2009 is due to be returned to Australia under international agreement, with a load from France currently enroute back to Australia and due to arrive at Port Kembla later this month.
