Reported concerns about an amendment to the ANSTO Act passed by Parliament this week are simply unfounded. Attempts to link the amendment to the current nuclear power debate are also ill-informed.
The amendment to the Act was prompted by concerns raised by emergency management and law enforcement authorities with ANSTO in early 2005 concerning their lack of ability to deal with radioactive material which might be dispersed by a “dirty bomb” or seized during a criminal investigation. At the time, the ANSTO Act effectively prevented ANSTO from taking control of any such radioactive material.
During subsequent discussions with Canberra, it was suggested that an amendment to deal with this issue might also allow ANSTO to play a role in the management of wastes owned by Commonwealth agencies other than ANSTO and to resolve any ambiguity about the status of the waste returned from the reprocessing of ANSTO spent fuel.
The Amendment Bill that was drafted in late 2005 and introduced into Parliament on 30 March – well before the announcement of the UMPNER review – met these objectives.
Coalition and Labor senators joined to recommend adoption of the Bill, as drafted, in May 2005. The Bill went through the House of Representatives in September this year, and was introduced into and debated in the Senate in October. Final debate and adoption of the Bill – as drafted in 2005 - took place this week.
ANSTO has therefore found it surprising that some groups have sought to portray the Amendment Act as part of a plot to enable the import of foreign spent fuel or radioactive waste into Australia. Any fair-minded reading of the Act
Published: 01/12/2006