The House of Representatives has passed a bill to allow a national storage facility for radioactive waste to be set up in Australia.
Muckaty Station, near Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory, is the site most likely to be used for the dump.
Resources Minister Martin Ferguson says Australia has been trying to find a site for a nuclear waste dump since 1988 and it is time that the issue was dealt with.
But the National Radioactive Waste Managements Bill 2010 is likely to face further delays in the Senate.
Greens Senator Scott Ludlam says the Greens will introduce a series of amendments in the Upper House, including tightening the discretion given to the Resources Minister.
“This just gives total and unfettered discretion to the Minister to put this thing wherever he thinks,” he said.
The Greens want to establish a commission to look at alternative ways of dealing with the waste.
The Opposition’s resources and energy spokesman, Ian Macfarlane, told Parliament the bill is one of the few good pieces of legislation to come into the House of Representatives.
Mr Macfarlane said low level nuclear waste is kept around Australia in highly unsuitable places.
These include in shipping containers in hospital car parks and basements of buildings in central business districts.
