Beyond Nuclear Initiative spokeswoman Nat Wasley was among the speakers at the meeting at Hill End’s Royal Hall and told the 120-strong crowd that waste earmarked for the dump was more sinister than previously suggested.

Calare MP John Cobb has played down the danger of the waste dump, saying it would be used for low level medical waste only, but Ms Wasley offered a different perspective.

She said people needed to be aware that the “intermediate” waste was very dangerous and labelled Mr Cobb’s suggestion that it was so benign you could sleep on it as “irresponsible”.

“If he says it’s low level waste that will be stored there, that’s not the proposal,” she said.

Ms Wasley said the intermediate waste referred to by the Federal Government was waste that has been created by the Lucas Heights Nuclear Reactor over the past 40 years. 

The spent fuel rods from this reactor were shipped to France for processing and are currently being brought back to Australia on a ship.

“This is very dangerous waste that nobody wants,” Ms Wasley said.

“A special facility is being built at Lucas Heights to temporarily hold it for the next 20 years while the new permanent radio-active waste facility is being built.

“That facility will have the responsibility for keeping the waste secure for the next 200 to 300 years. 

“Spent fuel rods have a very long life. The facility needs to be in a position to last at least that long.

“It seems this would be an attractive site because it is closest to the reactor. Stopping it will come down to how active the community is in opposing it.”

Ms Wasley, who has spent the past 10 years in the Northern Territory fighting to stop the permanent national dump being built there, said the waste could easily stay at Lucas Heights, however, a political decision had been made to get it out of Sydney.

She claimed initially around 140 truckloads of nuclear waste from Lucas Heights would be transported to the chosen site.

At the moment it is illegal for Australia to take nuclear waste from other countries, however, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in recent weeks has said he isn’t opposed to the idea of Australia receiving the world’s nuclear waste.

“We fear this will be the thin end of the wedge,” Ms Wasley said.

When contacted about Ms Wasley’s claims yesterday, Mr Cobb was unavailable to be interviewed, but his office issued a written statement.

AUSTRALIA’S new permanent national nuclear waste facility would be designed, built and operated to the highest safety and environmental standards, Calare MP John Cobb said yesterday.

In a written statement in response to claims at Tuesday night’s community meeting at Hill End’s Royal Hall, Mr Cobb also said the new facility would be subject to a rigorous approvals process by the relevant authorities.

He said the facility would be built to dispose of Australia’s low level waste and may store some intermediate level waste, including disused radioactive sources used in medical treatments, as well as reprocessed fuel that was used at Lucas Heights in the production of nuclear medicine.

“I have no information about the spent fuel rods being stored at the proposed permanent waste facilities but certainly no decision has been made on that fact that I am aware of,” Mr Cobb said.

He said the reprocessed intermediate-level waste would be safely immobilised in a durable vitrified (glass) form. 

“With appropriate ongoing management, the resulting vitrified waste can be safely managed for thousands of years – allowing any remaining radioactivity to safely decay over time,” he said.

Mr Cobb said the intermediate-level waste returning from France would comprise up to 20 stainless steel canisters (containing the vitrified waste) with a total weight of about 10 tonnes.

The total volume of vitrified waste will be 3.6 cubic metres. 

He said the stainless steel canisters will be placed inside a single large shielded dual-purpose storage/transport container which will weigh about 112 tonnes.

“The media and the community need to remember no final decision has been reached and six sites have been shortlisted,” he said.

Mr Cobb said it was very early days, with the relevant authorities yet to visit Sallys Flat.

“When they do, the community will be able to ask all of these questions,” he said.

Mr Cobb said people who want to have their say should go to http://www.radioactivewaste.gov.au/proposed-sites#