Jeremy L. Dillon
RW Monitor
5/29/2015
Australia will dedicate $22.3 million over the next four years to expand and refurbish two existing waste storage facilities, according to the country’s 2015/2106 budget allocation issued earlier this month. The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization (ANSTO), the Australian government-body responsible for overseeing the country’s nuclear sites, will oversee the project. Once completed, the facilities will be able to take additional waste, as well as serve as a central location for characterization and packaging of waste that is then sent to the final disposal or storage facility under development. “There are three things happening in parallel here,” an ANSTO spokesperson said in a statement. “While there has been welcome progress on the National Radioactive Waste Management Facility, if we don’t expand capacity at ANSTO now then we would reach maximum in 2017.This new funding will allow ANSTO to address this.” Australia has 4,248 cubic meters of low level waste and 656 cubic meters of intermediate level waste in temporary storage.
Australia’s FY2015/2016 budget also enables ANSTO to pack, ship and return Australian waste being reprocessed in the UK to the country no earlier than mid-2019. The government allocated $26.8 million over four years for this effort. “This funding will get planning underway to repatriate waste currently being stored at the Sellafield plant in the UK, after Australia sent spent fuel to the UK for treatment,” a spokesman said. “The intention is the UK waste would be sent directly to the National Radioactive Waste Management Facility, but if it is not established by then, ANSTO has the expertise, skills and, subject to regulatory approval, capacity to store this container alongside the one coming from France this financial year.”
Australia Looking for National Facility Site
Both efforts would help the government’s ability to move forward with its plan to site a radioactive waste management facility. Back in March, the Department of Industry and Science issued a call for voluntary site nominations for a national radioactive waste management facility. The facility would store Australia’s intermediate level waste and dispose of low level waste that results mainly from the country’s nuclear medicine industry. Australia currently does not have any nuclear power plants. “A single National Radioactive Waste Management Facility is in line with international best practice, and we welcome the reported encouraging response from landholders to the Minister’s call for voluntary nominations,” a spokesman said.
Once a site is nominated, an Independent Advisory Panel, established by the Department of Industry and Science, will examine the site’s qualifications. According to a release by the Department of Industry and Science, “Sites will be assessed against important criteria and objectives including community well-being; stable environment; environmental protection; health, safety and security; and economic viability. Extensive public consultation will be undertaken during every stage of the project.” Nominations were due at the beginning of this month.
Should the government site and construct a facility, the plan would call for the waste storage facilities to act as a preparation facility for disposal/storage. “Once the national facility is established, the new buildings will be used for waste preparation, so it is suitable to be transported to that national facility for long-term storage or final disposal,” a spokesman said. “This means ANSTO will be able to consolidate and eventually reduce its on-site waste storage facilities.”
