Australia Named Best Nuclear Waste SiteAustralia is the best place in the world to build an international underground dump for high-level nuclear waste, a Swiss-based nuclear lobby group claims.Despite previous attempts to gain the Australian Government's support for the idea, the Association for Regional and International Underground Storage continues to argue Australia will one day need such a site and would get billions of investment dollars by taking some of the world's high-level nuclear waste.ARIUS director Charles McCombie said the Government had used emotive arguments to defeat sound reasons why Australia should consider the proposal. "Australia is still recognised as one of the most geologically favourable areas of the world for such a repository - and importantly Australia itself will one day need a geological repository," he said. He said Australia's desert areas, political stability and technological support make it the best place for international storage. The Federal Government is pressing ahead with a low-level radioactive repository in South Australia and is investigating how to manage intermediate-level waste. Low-level waste degrades over several hundred years. Federal Science Minis ter Peter McGauran has ruled out importing nuclear waste, regardless of financial benefit or safety assurances. © 2003 Herald Sun Back to No Nuclear Dump News |