Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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AUSTRALIAN NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY ORGANISATION REGULATIONS 1994 NO. 259

STATUTORY RULES 1994 No. 259

Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Industry, Science and Technology

Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation Act 1987

Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation Regulations

Section 47 of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation Act 1987 (the Act) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations not inconsistent with the Act, prescribing matters

(a) required or permitted by this Act to be prescribed by regulations; or

(b) necessary or convenient to be prescribed by regulations for carrying out or giving effect to this Act.

Section 5(1)(ba)(iv) of the Act provides that the functions of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) include conditioning, managing and storing radioactive materials and radioactive waste arising from the activities of other persons who are specified in the regulations.

The purpose of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation Regulations (the Regulations) is to provide for ANSTO to condition a quantity of radioactive wastes arising from the activities of the Commonwealth, Australian Defence Industries Limited and the Australian Radiation Laboratory (and its predecessors). Conditioning means that the wastes are repackaged, for example by encapsulating them in concrete, to make them safer for handling, transport and storage.

Various radioactive wastes, including electronic valves, luminous dials and medical and industrial radiation sources, have been stored at the St Marys munitions factory of Australian Defence Industries Limited (ADI) for some years. These wastes originated from a variety of sources including the Department of Defence, which has accepted responsibility for removing the wastes from the St Marys site and storing or disposing of them. The wastes must be removed to enable the redevelopment of the St Marys site.

Much of the waste was collected since 1959 by the Australian Radiation Laboratory (ARL) and its predecessors and was stored at the former defence munitions facility at Derrimut in Victoria. When the Derrimut site was decommissioned in 1979 for residential redevelopment, all the wastes stored there were shipped to St Marys. With the proposed redevelopment of the St Marys site, it has been proposed that ANSTO, which has the relevant expertise and equipment to perform this task, should treat and condition the wastes to facilitate handling, transport and disposal arrangements, as the packaging and state of some of the wastes had deteriorated over time.

The Sutherland Shire Council was opposed to the proposed transfer of the wastes from St Marys to the Lucas Heights Research Laboratories (LHRL), claiming that this would make LHRL a defacto radioactive waste repository, given the prior transfer to the site of 2000. cubic metres of radioactively contaminated soil from Fishermens Bend in Melbourne.

The Council took action in the NSW Land and Environment Court, claiming that ANSTO did not have the power under its Act to deal with radioactive wastes from non-ANSTO origins. The Court accepted this view and ordered on 5 February 1992 that ANSTO could not bring the wastes from St Marys to LHRL, for conditioning and temporary storage. The Court also ordered that the Fishermens Bend material be removed from the site within three years.

Consequently, the ANSTO Act was amended in 1992 to provide ANSTO with the power to condition, manage and store radioactive materials and radioactive waste not generated by the Organisation. Section 5(1)(ba)(iv) provides for regulations to specify other persons for whose activities ANSTO can condition, manage and store radioactive materials and radioactive waste.

The Regulations specify, for the. purposes of Section 5(1)(ba), the Commonwealth, Australian Defence Industries and the Australian Radiation Laboratory and its predecessors being the source of, or being involved in activities related to, the wastes now at St Marys.

Section 5(1A) of the Act also specifies that a regulation must not have the effect of authorising the LHRL to become a national nuclear waste repository. The Regulations do not have this effect as the material will not be stored at the LHRL.

The Government has decided that the wastes should be removed from St Marys and transferred to Woomera, being Commonwealth land in South Australia. To minimise the impact of the operation on health, safety and the environment, the proposed conditioning by ANSTO requires the Regulations to be made. Consultations have been held among Commonwealth and State organisations to ensure the safety of the operation, which will be governed by relevant national nuclear Codes of Practice and State guidelines for all aspects of packaging, labelling, handling, transport,. storage and disposal.