Australian Financial Review Feb 23, 1999 http://www.afr.com.au/content/990223/update/update34.html British govt company confirms plans for nuke dump A company wholly-owned by the British government has confirmed its plans to develop an international nuclear waste dump in the Australian outback. A brief supplied to AAP by British Nuclear Fuels plc (BNFL), a wholly government-owned company, details its involvement in the plan. A spokesman for BNFL downplayed its role in the $10 billion project amid concerns it could threaten traditional Aboriginal communities and native wildlife. Pangea, a North American company, prepared the brief which stated that Australia's geology, stable political democracy and its international record on environment and disarmament issues would make it the ideal disposal destination. BNFL spokesman Bill Anderton denied any British waste would be sent to the proposed facility and said the company was only a "small supporter" of the project. "We have put Stg5 million ($A12.93 million) into it and when you think that our turnover is Stg1.3 billion ($A3.36 billion) a year that's quite a small amount and we have put a lot more than that into the search for a repository in the UK," he said. The underground repository would hold 75,000 tonnes of waste covering an area of about 20 sq km, about 500 metres below the surface. But the West Australian and South Australian governments have strongly opposed the plan. "Using Western Australia as a repository for toxic waste for other countries is unacceptable," a spokesman for WA Premier Richard Court said. "Every country should look after its own toxic waste." A spokesman for South Australian Premier said "the government was not interested in any proposal to dump in the outback". ************************************************************************* This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use." -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
