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This is a Bill, not an Act. For current law, see the Acts databases.
Western Australia
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
(Hon Giz Watson)
Nuclear Activities (Prohibition) Bill 2000
A Bill for
An Act to prohibit in Western Australia certain activities associated
with the nuclear fuel chain, and for related purposes.
The Parliament of Western Australia enacts as follows:
1. Short title and commencement
(1) This Act may be cited as the Nuclear Activities (Prohibition)
Act 2000.
5 (2) This Act comes into operation on the day on which it receives
the Royal Assent.
page 1
144--1
Nuclear Activities (Prohibition) Bill 2000
s. 2
2. Interpretation
In this Act unless inconsistent with the context --
"conversion" means the transformation of fertile material into
fissile material;
5 "enrichment", in relation to fissile material, means any process
by which the proportion of an isotope is increased in
relation to the natural abundance of the isotope;
"exploration" means searching for uranium or thorium ore
bodies using either radiometric or other survey techniques;
10 "fabrication of fuel" means any process or step in the
transformation of fissile material into a form suitable for
use in a nuclear reactor;
"facility" means a reactor, a critical facility, a conversion plant,
a fabrication plant, a reprocessing plant, an isotope
15 separation plant or a separate storage installation;
"fertile material" means any substance which is capable of
being transformed into fissile material;
"fissile material" means a substance capable of undergoing
nuclear fission in a nuclear reactor;
20 "mining" has the same meaning as defined in the Mining Act
1978;
"mining tenement" has the same meaning as defined in the
Mining Act 1978;
"Minister" means the Minister from time to time charged with
25 the administration of the Mining Act 1978;
"nuclear activities" means any procedure or operation involved
in the exploration for, mining, milling, conversion,
enrichment, fabrication, use, reprocessing, storage or
disposal of nuclear material;
30 "nuclear fission" means the splitting of a nucleus into two
more or less equal fragments;
page 2
Nuclear Activities (Prohibition) Bill 2000
s. 3
"nuclear fuel chain" includes any process or step in the
utilisation of fissile material, including its disposal at the
stage at which such material has no commercial value;
"nuclear material" means any radioactive substance associated
5 with the nuclear fuel chain, including fertile and fissile
material, spent fuel and waste;
"nuclear power reactor" means a nuclear reactor designed for
the generation of electricity;
"nuclear reactor" means a reactor designed to produce
10 controlled nuclear fission;
"reprocessing" means the conversion of spent fuel for reuse;
"spent fuel" means any fuel which has been partly consumed in
a nuclear reactor;
"thorium", the radioactive metallic element of the Actinide
15 Series having the symbol Th and atomic number 90, and
includes any of its isotopes or compounds;
"uranium", the radioactive metallic element of the Actinide
Series having the symbol U and atomic number 92, and
includes any of its isotopes or compounds;
20 "waste" means any radioactive material lacking commercial
value which is produced as a result of nuclear activities.
3. Objects of Act
The objects of this Act are to --
(a) protect the health, welfare and safety of the people of
25 Western Australia;
(b) limit deterioration of the environment by prohibiting
nuclear activities.
4. Acts binds the Crown
This Act binds the Crown in right of the State of Western
30 Australia and, so far as the legislative competence of the
page 3
Nuclear Activities (Prohibition) Bill 2000
s. 5
Parliament of Western Australia permits, in all its other
capacities.
5. Prohibition against exploration etc. for uranium and
thorium
5 (1) It is an offence for any person to carry out or permit exploration
for, or the mining of, thorium or uranium.
(2) The Minister must cancel any mining tenement held by a person
who or which is convicted of a second offence under subsection
(1).
10 (3) It is a defence to a charge under subsection (1) for the person to
show that --
(a) the extraction of thorium or uranium is incidental to, or
unavoidable in the course of, mining or quarrying
another mineral; and
15 (b) the ore body contains, by weight, not more than 0.05%
uranium and not more than 2% thorium.
6. Facilities for nuclear activities prohibited
It is an offence for any person to construct or operate any
facility, or alter or modify an existing facility, for any purpose
20 that is intended for, or enables engaging in, nuclear activities.
7. Enforcement of this Act
(1) Any person who is eligible to vote in a general election for the
Legislative Assembly may seek an order from the Supreme
Court or a Judge that remedies or restrains another person from
25 breaching or engaging in conduct that will, or is calculated to,
breach a provision of this Act, and it does not matter that the
interests or rights of the person seeking the order is, or will be,
adversely affected by the breach or threatened breach.
(2) A person seeking an order under subsection (1) may act for any
30 other person having a like or common interest in the
proceedings if the other person consents.
page 4
Nuclear Activities (Prohibition) Bill 2000
s. 8
(3) In subsection (2), the consent required for a person who is not a
natural person is that of the person's controlling body.
8. Offences
(1) A person convicted of an offence under this Act is liable --
5 (a) if a natural person, to a fine not exceeding $250 000;
(b) if a body corporate or unincorporate, to a fine not
exceeding $500 000;
(c) where the offence is a continuing offence, to a fine not
exceeding $50 000 for each day.
10 (2) Without affecting the liability of a body corporate or
unincorporate under subsection (1), any officer, employee, or
agent of that body corporate or unincorporate who knew, or who
ought to have known, that its acts or course of conduct was in
breach, or likely to be in breach, of this Act commits a separate
15 offence and subsection (1)(a) and (c) apply accordingly.
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