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Outback SA is a target for both international and national nuclear wastes

By David Noonan - posted Monday, 20 July 2015


Outback South Australia is again a target for Nuclear waste dumping despite the law in our State since 2000 prohibiting the import, transport, storage and disposal of any wastes derived from Nuclear reactors.

Liberal Premier John Olsen passed the Nuclear Waste Storage Facility (Prohibition) Act 2000 "to protect the health, safety and welfare of the people of South Australia, and to protect the environment in which they live" by prohibiting a range of nuclear wastes.

Political leadership by the Honourable John Olsen AO valued Outback SA more than the vested interests of Nuclear advocates who were trying to push Nuclear wastes on to our State.

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In the late 1990's a company Pangea targeted both WA and SA for International Nuclear Wastes and Prime Minister John Howard targeted Arcoona Station for a National Nuclear Store for Spent Nuclear Fuel wastes from the Lucas Heights reactor in Sydney.

Today, both Prime Minister Tony Abbott and State Premier Jay Weatherill should respect and not seek to over-ride or over-turn long standing key legislation that protects the public interest in our State.

The Federal government are about to announce short-listed sites in Outback SA and in WA for a National Nuclear Store for Spent Nuclear Fuel wastes from the Lucas Heights reactor in Sydney and a co-located National Repository to bury other radioactive wastes from across Australia.

The Lucas Heights reactor itself will be decommissioned and cut up and trucked across Australia to be dumped at this Repository site if it goes ahead in our State.

The Prime Minister assumes a power and a right to over-ride any Environment Protection, Nuclear Prohibition, Aboriginal Heritage or Native Title laws to the extent that they may hinder these National Nuclear waste dumping plans.

South Australians have fought long and hard to protect our State from the risks and impacts of Nuclear waste dumping.

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As a lead Council of Senior Aboriginal Women the Kupa Piti Kungka Tjuta protested over 1998 to 2004 to protect their country and their culture and prevailed over Prime Minister Howard's nuclear waste dumping plans. We should respect their leadership and keep the Nuclear wastes out.

The Kungka's leadership on behalf of community received the highest level of International recognition in award of the 2003 Goldman Environmental Prize, also called the Green Nobel.

Labor Premier the Honourable Mike Rann strengthened legislative protections and successfully prevented undemocratic Federal imposition of National Nuclear wastes on to SA.

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About the Author

David Noonan is a freelance environment campaigner with experience on nuclear, uranium, environment and outback rivers conservation issues with the NGO sector.

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Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

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