The proposal to store Australia's low and intermediate-level nuclear waste in a geologically secure and isolated region of the South Australian outback was defeated following a federal court challenge.

Canberra is now investigating the possibility of sending the waste to one of its island territories following the successful challenge by the state government of South Australia, based on concerns for public safety.

But the government's former chief defence scientist, Richard Brabin-Smith, has accused South Australia of "pandering to hysteria".

Now a visiting fellow at Canberra's Australian National University, Brabin-Smith said the states were guilty of "followship" as opposed to "leadership" on the question of storing nuclear waste.

"It is inexcusable for state governments to behave like the outback is just an extension of suburban Australia, because it isn't," he told AFP.

"Let's face it, it's not as if you would walk out your backdoor and step in a radioactive cow-pat."

Brabin-Smith said the vastness of the Australian outback, coupled with its isolation and geological stability, made it the obvious choice.

Retired nuclear scientist Robert Fry, former head of health and safety at Sydney's Lucas Heights nuclear plant where 80 percent of Australia's nuclear waste is currently stored agreed.

"There is unnecessary public concern about the handling of radioactive waste, even high level waste," said Fry, who is also a former supervising scientist at the Northern Territory's Alligator River uranium project.

Fry told AFP no new technology is required in order to dispose of even high level waste safely, adding: "It can be disposed of without risk.

"The South Australian Outback would be an ideal location because of its geological stability and there would be no security concerns."

The scientists' attack came as the last shipment of spent nuclear fuel rods under a French-Australian reprocessing agreement left Sydney by ship on Monday.

Under the agreement, the rods from Lucas Heights are reprocessed and later returned to Australia as low or medium level radioactive waste for storage. Future shipments of rods will go to the United States, but they will not be reprocessed or returned.

Brabin-Smith said risk management would seem to dictate the best place for nuclear waste is out in isolated country, away from communities and in areas easy to protect and secure.

"Scientifically the outback is the best place, whereas there are numerous environmental and security issues associated with storing it on an island," he said.

Australia has jurisdiction of 10 island territories, including Norfolk, Christmas and Ashmore islands and hundreds of smaller islands.

But many Australian offshore territories have high environmental protection, or are adjacent to the earthquake-prone and politically unstable regions of Indonesia and Java.

Science Minister Brendan Nelson has confirmed the government is searching for an offshore location but had not completely ruled out a mainland site.

All rights reserved. � 2004 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

Related Links
SpaceDaily
Search SpaceDaily
Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express