Greens Federal Senator Scott Ludlam and lead NSW Senate Candidate Lee
Rhiannon today called on the Gillard government to abandon plans for
the Muckaty national radioactive waste dump in the Northern Territory
and commit to storing nuclear waste generated at the Lucas Heights
facility on site. They say transporting waste through NSW communities
to the Northern Territory creates unacceptable safety risks.
Tonight Scott Ludlam will speak at a Sydney Forum with Muckaty
Traditional Owners who are taking legal action against the Federal
government.
“Residents in NSW should not be burdened with the safety risks that
come with trucking waste from Lucas Heights through their communities
to the Northern Territory,” Senator Ludlam said.
“International best practice is to keep intermediate and high level
nuclear waste at its source, in secure containers that can be
routinely inspected. It is much safer at Lucas Heights than on route
to this proposed new dump.
“Lucas Heights generates 90 percent of the nuclear waste, measured by
radioactivity, which will go to Muckaty. This spent nuclear fuel
reprocessing waste is highly radioactive.
“A 2009 report commissioned by the government on possible transport
routes from Lucas Heights to Muckaty Station proposed sending it by
road through Western or Northern NSW, or trucking it to Cronulla and
then putting it on a train to the site.
“The Greens propose a Commission to determine how Australia should
best manage its radioactive waste, looking to the science and the
community for guidance, Senator Ludlam said.
Greens Lead Senate Candidate for NSW Lee Rhiannon said, “A 2004 NSW
Parliamentary Inquiry into the Transport and Storage of Nuclear Waste
found that the transport of radioactive waste increases the risk of
accident, including terrorist intervention.
“Moving waste by road through Western or Northern NSW involves
trucking it through accident black spots where the risk of truck
accidents is high.
“Communities and local councils along the waste transport route will
fight this move, as they successfully did when Howard planned a
nuclear waste dump in South Australia.
“No doubt the government will again attempt to assure the public that
the transport of dangerous waste will be strictly governed by
stringent national and international standards.
“The reality is that the transportation of nuclear waste has always
been problematic. Billions have been spent investigating options to
deal with the waste but no safe solution has been found.
“Keeping spent fuel at Lucas Heights is the best way to tackle
transportation risks,” Ms Rhiannon said.
Contact: Lee Rhiannon 0427 861 568. Fernando de Freitas for Scott
Ludlam 0417 174 302
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Lee Rhiannon
Greens NSW lead Senate Candidate
19 Eve Street, Erskineville
0427 861 568