The Australian government on Saturday said it had selected property in the town of Kimba in South Australia to house its National Radioactive Waste Management Facility.
“I am satisfied a facility at Napandee will safely and securely manage radioactive waste and that the local community has shown broad community support for the project and economic benefits it will bring,” Matt Canavan, minister for resources and Northern Australia, said in a press release.
The above-ground facility on 395 acres of land will be used for permanent disposal of low-level radioactive waste and temporary storage of intermediate-level waste. The latter material, after a period of decades, is to be disposed of elsewhere.
As of 2017, Australia held about 4,250 cubic meters of low-level waste and 656 cubic meters of intermediate-level waste at roughly 100 locations, including hospitals and research facilities. Roughly 80% of the total was generated by nuclear medicine activities, the press release says. Australia has no nuclear power plants.
The siting decision is the result of a selection process that began in 2015. To proceed through selection, locations were required to be put forward for consideration by the landowner and have strong backing from the surrounding community. Napandee and two other volunteered locations in South Australia all underwent comprehensive technical evaluations, encompassing studies of seismology, hydrology, and geology, before the final choice was made.
The other sites were Wallerberdina Station and another option in Kimba, Lyndhurst.
“It was found the complexity and costs associated with the mitigations would be greater at Wallerberdina than at the two Kimba sites, and of those, greater at Lyndhurst than Napandee,” the release says.
The advocacy organization No Radioactive Waste Facility for Kimba District quickly organized a rally Saturday to push back against the government’s decision. The event drew hundreds of participants, according to the local Whyalla News.
