FED: Govt denies Australia to become nuclear waste dump

AAP General News (Australia)
12-01-1998
FED: Govt denies Australia to become nuclear waste dump

By Sarah Timms

CANBERRA, Dec 1 AAP -The federal government today denied Australia was on the brink of
becoming an international nuclear waste dump.

The denial followed the release of a promotional video from US-based radioactive waste
management company Pangea Resources, which claims Australias barren landscape is ideal for
storing the hazardous material.

Pangea president James Voss said Australia and several other countries possessed geology
that was the best in the world for the long-term isolation of radioactive waste.

"So if Australia meets other social, legal, political tests, it may well be a candidate for
some future exploration," Mr Voss said.

Pangea had held discussions at a bureaucratic level on understanding regulatory processes
involved in Australia but had not spoken to anyone in government, he said.

"We have not sought any winks, nods or approvals, because thats something that only comes
in the public process," Mr Voss told ABC Radio.

"We think that those in industry that weve spoken to have expressed interest in Australia
doing the right thing for the world to help rid the world of nuclear weapons and nuclear
waste."

The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) would be broadly
interested in any international repository in any country because it accomplished the broader
goal of removing plutonium from circulation, he said.

But a spokeswoman for Resources Minister Nick Minchin said Australia had no intention of
accepting nuclear waste from overseas and said there had been no ministerial level meetings.

"It is not government policy to accept nuclear waste from overseas countries and there is
no intention to change that policy," the spokeswoman told AAP.

"There have been no meetings at a ministerial level."

Australian independent consultant on radioactive issues, Jean McSorley, earlier today
revealed she had obtained a copy of the video from Friends of the Earth in the UK.

"The video describes plans to have a nuclear waste dump from waste from all over the world
in Australia," Ms McSorley told ABC Radio.

"Many countries believe Australia is simply a massive barren land mass with a few
fringe-dwellers.

"We do know from media reports earlier this year that representatives of this company have
claimed that theyve met with ministers and public servants down here in Australia."

AAP st/mfh/trm

KEYWORD: NUCLEAR NIGHTLEAD

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