SA dump battle turns into 'nuclear war'

May 24, 2000
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SA dump battle turns into 'nuclear war'

BY JIM GREEN

The South Australian Liberal government on May 17 announced it would legislate in an attempt to stop the federal government storing high-level nuclear waste in the state. Federal science minister Nick Minchin responded by threatening to override the proposed legislation.

The SA government's decision reflects the overwhelming opposition of the SA population to nuclear waste being dumped in the state. It followed the introduction of similar bills into the SA parliament by Labor and the Democrats.

Minchin should have copped the SA government's decision on the chin. With the issue of high-level waste storage then off the agenda, it would be easier to establish an underground dump for low-level waste in SA, a proposal which the SA government supports.

With the next federal election out of the way, and with a low-level dump in place, efforts could then be made to sidestep the SA legislation against high-level waste storage, to convince the SA government to repeal it, or to override it as a last resort.

Most or all of the waste from the nuclear reactor plant in Sydney could then be sent to the dump and an adjacent store in SA, political opposition to a new reactor would be contained, and the nuclear industry would live happily ever after.

But Minchin either has bad judgment or a bad temper. He issued a press release on May 17 threatening to override SA legislation using commonwealth powers — an interesting twist given Liberal rhetoric about "states' rights".

The federal government's threat led to front-page stories in Adelaide's only mass circulation newspaper, the Advertiser, including a page one headline announcing SA's declaration of "nuclear war" against the federal government and a May 18 editorial likening Minchin's threat to the "arrogance which cost the Kennett government so dearly in Victoria".

The federal government's response will harden opposition not only to a high-level nuclear waste store, but also to a low-level dump. Surveys indicate near-total opposition to a high-level dump, including from all parties in state parliament, and 86% opposition to a low-level dump.

Minchin is attempting to convince South Australians to accept a high-level waste store on the basis that 20,000 South Australians benefit every year from isotopes produced by the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor. His May 17 press release mentioned the magical 20,000 figure three times.

But seven times as many nuclear medicine procedures are carried out in NSW, four times as many in Victoria and twice as many in Queensland. South Australia still has the contaminated Maralinga weapons site to deal with, and the Roxby Downs uranium and copper mine, and the Beverley and Honeymoon uranium mines. Moreover, the case for a centralised, national store for high-level nuclear waste is weak.

It remains to be seen whether the problems with the federal government's waste plans will jeopardise the plan for a new reactor in the Sydney suburb of Lucas Heights. At the very least, they raise the political costs of proceeding with a new reactor.

A 1999 report from the federal environment department premised its support for a new reactor on the federal government's intention to remove waste from Lucas Heights and to co-locate a high-level waste store with a low-level dump in SA.

The Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) justified its granting of a licence to prepare a site for a new reactor with reference to the federal government's intention to co-locate a high-level waste store with a low-level dump in SA.

Both environment minister Robert Hill and ARPANSA have to agree that "satisfactory arrangements" exist for high-level waste management before construction of a new reactor can begin in 2002. Minchin is quoted in the May 18 Advertiser saying that a site for a high-level store would be chosen in 18 months to two years.

It has taken successive governments 20 years to locate a site for a low-level dump. Now the federal government has to identify a site for a high-level waste store within two years. The May 17 brawl between the politicians won't be the last.

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