2016-05-05
A process not a postcode
There are no long‐term storage solutions for nuclear waste, which is why the Australian Greens believe that nuclear industry activities should be ceased entirely.
The Greens will continue to stand up against the idea that Australia should become the world's nuclear waste dump. Each nation must responsibly deal with their nuclear mistakes, not transport their toxic waste 'out of sight out of mind.'
The old parties have legislated to impose nuclear waste upon unwilling communities across Australia.
For over two decades the remote Aboriginal communities have been targeted to host the nation's nuclear waste. The Kupa Piti Kungka Tjuta senior women in South Australia and the Traditional Owners from the Muckaty region in the Northern Territory have defeated plans to impose radioactive waste on their lands.
It is essential that Australia's disgraceful history of targeting Aboriginal communities to host our 60-year legacy of spent reactor fuel is never repeated again.The Greens propose the Commonwealth Government immediately establish an independent inquiry on Radioactive Waste Management to undertake a deliberative process that is procedurally fair, scientifically rigorous, and properly informed.
What you need to know
Nuclear waste remains dangerously toxic and radioactive for generations.
Australia's nuclear waste is made up of
- 4020 cubic metres of so‐called low‐level and short‐lived intermediate radioactive waste;
- Approximately 600 cubic metres of long lived waste in this country; and
- 32 cubic metres of spent research reactor fuel that is returning to Australia from reprocessing in France and the UK in 2015.
- There are no long-term storage solutions for nuclear waste.
The Labor-Liberal preferred response to nuclear waste management is 'out of site out of mind' in the past this has meant targeting remote Aboriginal Communities.
The Greens have stood with Traditional Owners in South Australia and the Northern Territory to defeat those plans.
We need to move beyond the failed process of the past and make decisions on the management of radioactive based on science, community input and best practice.
That's why we have a fully costed plan for an Independent Inquiry on the Long-Term Safe Storage, Transport and Management of Australia's Radioactive Waste.