Australian Court upsets Government plan for desert Nuclear Waste Dump

Australia's federal court dealt a blow to government plans to build the country's first nuclear waste dump deep in the South Australian desert. Acting on an appeal by the South Australia (SA) state government, the full Federal Court Thursday unanimously quashed the forced acquisition by federal authorities of land for the dump near the outback town of Woomera.

The three-judge panel ruled that there was no "urgent necessity for the acquisition" and rejected federal government arguments that it would be contrary to public interest for the purchase to be delayed.

The conservative government of Prime Minister John Howard chose the South Australian site for storing low-level nuclear waste over the objections of the Labor-controlled state government. The site was to store low-level radioactive waste from industry and the country's sole nuclear reactor, a research facility located in Sydney, 1,400 kilometers (840 miles) away.

The government ordered the compulsory acquisition of the dump site last year when the South Australian state government announced it would seek to block the project. State Environment Minister John Hill hailed Thursday's court ruling as "a major win for South Australia". "The judges found unanimously that the commonwealth (federal government) had improperly used their urgency power to obtain this land," he said.

Federal Finance Minister Nick Minchin said the government would likely appeal against the court decision. "We will take legal advice but I think we will look very seriously at appealing that judgment to the High Court," Minchin told ABC radio. "This really is important to the nation, the safe storage of radioactive waste," he said.

The Australian Conservation Foundation welcomed the court decision as a victory for democracy and the environment. "The court has shown here today that the federal government exceeded their powers in trying to override the will of the South Australian community and the will of the SA parliament," spokesman David Noonan said. "They have failed in the land acquisition for this nuclear waste dump and they will not get away with imposing a nuclear waste future against SA's interests."

And in a related story

Australia to push ahead with Radioactive Waste Dump

Australia's government said on Thursday it was determined to set up a radioactive waste dump at a remote desert site, despite a federal court ruling against its compulsory purchase of land for the repository.

The government is considering a high court appeal over the rulingthat blocked its plan to dump low-level radioactive waste generated by hospitals, universities and industries near the vast former rocket range at Woomera, around 475 km (295 miles) north of Adelaide.

"The Australian government will not accept the current unsafe and ad hoc storage of radioactive waste in hundreds of towns and suburbs across Australia," Science Minister Peter McGauran said in a statement.

The federal court ruled the government's compulsory purchase of the farmland, dubbed site 40a, for the waste dump was illegal. The state government of South Australia, which launched the court action, said it would continue to fight the proposal, which would see nuclear waste trucked across the country to the site.

Thanks to MCN International Pty Ltd. and Reuters Foundation

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