The Australian government today began the next phase of considering two sites in South Australia to house the planned National Radioactive Waste Management Facility.
Two property owners close to the rural town of Kimba, on the Eyre Peninsula, in January separately proposed using their land for the facility. The National Radioactive Waste Management Facility Project Office opened its Kimba location today with a sausage sizzle, according to a press release from Australia’s Department of Industry, Innovation, and Science.
“During this second phase, we will take an in-depth look at the two volunteered sites at Kimba, to understand whether either of them could be suitable for the national facility,” facility task force General Manager Bruce McCleary said in a press release. “This involves looking into the technical aspects of the project, the individual site characteristics and whether the land would be suitable for a facility like this.”
The nearly 100-acre facility would be used for permanent storage of low-level radioactive waste and temporary storage of intermediate-level waste. Australia holds roughly 4,250 cubic meters of low-level waste and 656 cubic meters of intermediate-level waste, left by production and use of nuclear medicine, research reactor operations, and other activities.
Only one other location is still being considered after years of site selection: Wallerberdina Station, in Barndioota, South Australia. That land is also in second-phase study.
