Nuclear waste too hot to handle

Australia must go back to the drawing board on an already four-decade-long quest to find a place to store radioactive waste from hospitals and nuclear medicine after approvals for a low- and medium-level facility in South Australia were blocked this week by the Federal Court. The court ruled in favour of the Barngarla Determination Aboriginal Corporation, which claimed it had not been properly consulted after ratepayers in the town of Kimba voted by a majority to have the facility located there. In an embarrassment for the former Morrison government, Justice Natalie Charlesworth found former federal resources minister Keith Pitt had acted with apprehended bias when making his decision to approve the site. Justice Charlesworth said the minister, who formally declared the site in 2021, could be seen to have a “foreclosed mind” on the issue “simply because his statements strongly conveyed the impression that his mind was made up”.

The issue must now be reconsidered by Resources Minister Madeleine King. But she has already pointed out Labor had worked with the Barngarla people in the last term of parliament to ensure they secured the right to seek judicial review of the decision of her predecessor. The proposed nuclear waste facility was to be located on freehold title land over which native title had been already extinguished. But the Barngarla group, which has native title over a large part of the Eyre Peninsula, told the court the proposed facility was near a sacred Seven Sisters Dreaming site, which they feared would be destroyed if the project went ahead.

The government must assess the court’s findings. But it must push ahead with finding a permanent solution to dealing with the highly emotive issue of radioactive waste. At present radioactive waste from hospitals and the Lucas Heights reactor are being stored temporarily on site. As things stand, years of negotiations appear to have gone to waste but the problem has not gone away. The Albanese government must find a solution and it must look to the future. The AUKUS submarine deal will likely require a site be developed to store waste that is potentially more difficult. It is widely acknowledged Australia is geologically well suited for long-term storage given the age and stability of the landscape. A proper process must start now to find a solution. We repeat our view, stated in December 2021, that the nation cannot leave its head in the sand indefinitely. Given the importance of nuclear medicine and potential of nuclear energy, long-term plans for the secure storage of nuclear waste need to be formulated as a national priority.