The Australian government said Monday it has begun the review process for two recently volunteered locations in South Australia for the National Radioactive Waste Management Facility.
Two landowners near the rural town of Kimba, on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula, in January offered use of their properties for the facility, according to a press release from Matthew Canavan, minister for resources and Northern Australia. Local residents now have 90 days to discuss the proposed sites to determine if they will advance to actual government review.
“A majority of neighbours, the [Kimba Council] and others, have already told us they support these nominations being taken forward for consultation, which is why they have progressed to this early stage,” Canavan said in prepared comments. “There is sufficient community support to begin this consultation. The next step is to assess if that support is broad enough to move to a site-specific assessment.”
The community will also have an opportunity to vote on the proposals in a postal polling, The Advertiser reported.
The national Department of Industry, Innovation, and Science will open an office this week in Kimba to provide information on the proposals. It will be open two days per week. Specialists from Geoscience Australia and the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization are also readying to offer assistance during the 90-day consultation, the release says.
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.
An extensive site selection process in recent years left only one location still in consideration prior to the latest offers: Wallerberdina Station, in Barndioota, South Australia. That property has made it to a second-phase evaluation, including technical studies.
