TELLUS HOLDINGS —
SANDY RIDGE PROJECT
406. Hon ROBIN CHAPPLE to the parliamentary secretary
representing the Minister for Health:
I refer to question without notice
122, which I asked of the parliamentary secretary representing the Minister for
Health on 21 February 2019.
Given the minister's answer
that ''Most of the radioactive isotopes that will be considered for
approval at the site will have half-lives that will ensure that the material is
not radioactive after 300 years'', how can this statement be justified,
given that the half-lives of some of the elements listed in tables 5.1 and 5.2
of Tellus Holdings Ltd's radiation waste management plan are in the
order of billions of years?
Hon ALANNA
CLOHESY replied:
I thank the honourable member for
some notice of the question.
I am advised that tables 5.1 and 5.2
reference a broad list of isotopes used in medicine and industry. Not all
isotopes listed will be deemed to be
suitable—should approval be granted—for burial at a near-surface
low-level radioactive waste facility. The half-life of an isotope is one
of the most important considerations in assessing the suitability of the waste
for disposal at the Sandy Ridge facility.