NSW: Nuclear waste to be shipped to US next year
24 Nov 2008 3:26 PMA shipment of spent nuclear fuel will be sent from Sydney to the United States in the first half of next year.
The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation says the shipment of spent fuel .. which is to be permanently stored in the US .. is the final one resulting from operations of ANSTO's two former research reactors.
ANSTO's acting chief executive officer RON CAMERON says relevant councils and elected representatives in the Sydney-Illawarra region are being informed a convoy of trucks carrying the fuel elements may pass through their suburbs next year.
But Dr CAMERON says US government regulations and contractual security requirements mean ANSTO can't confirm shipment dates or routes until the used fuel has safely arrived at its destination.
It will be ANSTO's ninth shipment of used fuel since 1963.
