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NT nuke dump inquiry cut short

9 November 2005



Senator Scullion should explain to Territorians why he supported the Government in having  a short inquiry into the proposed nuclear waste dump for the NT.

ALP Senator Trish Crossin succeeded today in having the Commonwealth Radioactive  Waste Management Bill referred to a Senate inquiry.

However the reporting date proposed by Senator Crossin was 6 December, 2005 .

This was amended by the Government to 29 November 2005 , with Senator Scullion 's  support.

An inquiry of less than three weeks long has limited effectiveness and provides inadequate  time for Territorians to participate.

“We should have a good look at what this dump might mean for the Territory and what is  intended by the sections of the Bill which will over-ride a range of Territory and National  legislation” Senator Crossin said.

Senator Scullion seems to equate highly radioactive waste with mum’s apple pie:

“People are still peddling to a fairly naÃÂ¯ve community, complete evil misinformation to make people so afraid - anybody that suggests that this is at all dangerous to anything - it is  entirely wrong” ABC radio 8-11-5

Senator Crossin says “There are serious concerns, expressed by the United Nations  International Atomic Energy Agency, about nuclear waste and nuclear waste management”.

"It is known that the waste from reprocessed fuel rods includes plutonium - an extremely  long lived and toxic substance.

There are the immediate questions about the storage and transport of radioactive waste:

Ã¢ÂÂ¢ How do you engineer to keep the low level waste for up to 300 years and the  intermediate waste for tens of thousands of years?

Ã¢ÂÂ¢ Will the intermediate waste returning from France in three metre long containers  weighing over 110 tonnes come through Darwin Port ?

Ã¢ÂÂ¢ If the dump is no more than a road, a shed (the size of a soccer field), a fence and a  CCTV will it be secure and what jobs are in it for Territorians?

“The questions surrounding the imposition of a national radioactive dump on the Territory  need to be examined in some detail not rushed through parliament” Senator Crossin said, "  but thanks to Senator Scullion this will not happen."

