The government is facing a barrage of protest over its controversial decision to accept a shipment of nuclear waste from the former Soviet Union.

Politicians and environmentalists are expected to keep up hostile questioning on the issue after secret plans to import the consignment of uranium were published in an American newspaper

The Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook, defended the government. He said the material was not highly radioactive, but highly explosive. He also stressed that the material would not be transformed into large volumes of highly radioactive waste.

South Australia to Become Nuclear Waste Dump
The Federal Government was accused yesterday of making South Australia a national nuclear-waste dump after it named an outback plateau as its preferred dump site.

A desert plateau north-west of Woomera in SA is the Federal Government's preferred location for a low-level nuclear dump.

Industry Minister Nick Minchin said site 52a, known as Evetts Field West, was located within the Woomera Prohibited Area, and was chosen after rigorous scientific evaluation.

It will now be subject to environmental assessment, along with two alternative sites, both located to the north-east of Woomera.

All three sites are more than 400km north of Adelaide.

SA Opposition environment spokesman John Hill said the state was now effectively one step closer to also being chosen as the site for medium-level nuclear waste.

"There is no other reason to create a single national dump for low-level waste," Mr Hill said.

"At present each state stores its own low-level waste.

"There is no reason why each state cannot create its own low-level dump for its own waste and continue to keep its own waste.

"But by creating a national dump hub in South Australia, this location announced today will become the obvious place to dump medium-level waste from the new [Sydneyl Lucas Heights reactor in the future."

The decision also prompted dread from conservationists, who condemned Senator Minchin's plan as a secret push to make the Woomera area a radioactive waste-dumping ground.

"If the Federal Government gets its way South Australia will become home to dll the radioactive rubbish in Australia, with plans to co-locate wastes from the Lucas Heights reactor adjacent to the burial site," Australian Conservation Foundation campaigner David Noonan said.

Plans for a dump were opposed by pastoral, Aboriginal and local community interests, he said.

"The Federal Government is trying to push an out-of-sightout-of-mind solution to a very real problem," Mr Noonan said.

"Long-term environmental threats cannot be safely dealt with by short-term politically driven answers."

Environmental assessment of the sites are expected to take about a year.

published in the Canberra Times 25 January 2001 p3. -- AAP

tbh.. i don't care for you opinions on it. nuclear power and coal are outdated sources of energy, and solar and wind power have no risk to anyone.
the numbers of power plants in the world wouldn't make it any less dangerous and wouldn't make it any less destructive if a nuclear reactor was to explode here.