Australia to proceed with nuclear waste site in N Territory

Resources and Energy Minister Martin Ferguson on Tuesday revealed Australia's first nuclear waste dump is likely to be sited in the Northern Territory.

The federal government will pursue Muckaty Station, about 120 kilometers north of Tennant Creek, as the location for a national radioactive waste repository, Ferguson told Australian Broadcasting Corporation Radio in Darwin.

He said the nuclear waste dump could be located elsewhere in Australia if environmental and scientific assessments fail at the Muckaty site.

"I also have the capacity, if I assess that is not a proper site, to then open up to a national voluntary site nomination process," he said.

Ferguson added the radioactive waste that would be stored at the site was not linked to Australia's uranium exports, but to isotopes used in medical treatments.

Source: Xinhua