As Australia continues a struggle that has lasted more than two decades to find a site for low-level radioactive materials, a Royal Commission today added a new dimension by proposing the importation and storage of high-level nuclear waste.
The Budget has allocated $26.8 million to fund the return of radioactive waste sent overseas years ago for reprocessing, which will initially be stored at Lucas Heights in Sydney.
Only federal environmental approval now stands in the way of Cameco's Kintyre uranium mine, following a Western Australian Government decision to reject appeals against it.
The Federal Government has dropped Muckaty Station in the Northern Territory as the proposed site for a radioactive waste facility, bringing to an end a Federal Court challenge by traditional owners opposed to the project.
Environment Minister Tony Burke today granted EPBC Act approval to BHP Billiton's Olympic Dam expansion, on the same day that the South Australian Government gave it the go-ahead, with the Greens warning the project would create a 'carcinogenic mountain'.