Woomera must be considered for radioactive waste facility, Senator Rex Patrick says

There are renewed calls for Woomera to be considered for the national nuclear waste repository to end the divide in two South Australian country towns.

• October: Kimba and Hawker residents disrupted by delayed vote

Renewed calls have been made for Woomera to be considered as the site for the national nuclear waste repository to end the divide in two South Australian country towns.

Centre Alliance Senator Rex Patrick said the 122,000sq km Woomera Prohibited Area should be revisited after a freedom of information document showed the reasons why it was rejected were “shallow”.

His calls come as Kimba and Hawker remain in limbo as to whether they will be chosen to host the low-level waste facility, with community ballots delayed until early next year.

“We have a divided community in both Hawker and Kimba and there is a site that may well be very suitable but has been dismissed on very shallow grounds,” Senator Patrick said.

“We need to revisit the defence site properly.”

Woomera was one of four defence sites in SA to be identified by the Federal Government that met suitability criteria for the repository.

Low and intermediate level radioactive waste has been stored at Woomera since 1994-1995.

The Defence Department, in 2016, said it did not support the facility at Woomera as it was “incompatible” with its weapons testing range and missile launch site.

However, a 2002 Education, Training and Science Department report found the site would be a preferred location, in part because both low and intermediate-level radioactive waste had been stored there since 1994-95 without incident. This includes the CSIRO storing 10,000 drums of waste at the site.

Resources Minister Matt Canavan told The Advertiser the site was unsuitable due to defence operations. He said waste at the site must be moved outside of the controlled defence area.

Woomera was identified by the Howard Government as the potential repository site in 1998, but was shelved following backlash from the Rann Government.