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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 406 asked in the Legislative Council on 7 May 2019 by Hon Robin Chapple

Parliament: 40 Session: 1

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.