According to the federal government (Envt Impact Statement, there is a 23% chance of an accident trucking the existing national inventory to SA via approx. 170 trucks. That includes minor accidents and serious ones.

The government frequently claims that there are 30,000 packages of radioactive materials are transported safely annually. It's anyone's guess where the 30,000 figure comes from. Moreover the government ignores accidents, e.g.:
* a package containing radioactive material fell from a van in Sydney in September 1997
* reports of spill/s when moving waste to Woomera in 1994-95
* at least one significant accident moving spent fuel within the Lucas Heights site in the late 1990s
* sure to be other accidents ignored by the government

Big questions over preparedness of emergency services to deal with accidents. For example the Secretary of the United Firefighters Union (SA), Mick Doyle, has complained about lack of consultation with emergnecy services organisations or with workers or their trade unions. He said: “Our members are expected to risk their lives but no-one has bothered to consult them”, and that: “Firefighters are expected to clean up any radioactive spill, even if radioactive exposure is many times public health recommendations”.

Councils in the west have joined the chorus of opposition to the road transportation of nuclear waste to a proposed storage facility at Woomera in South Australia.

The 13 councils which make up the Western Division Group of the NSW Shires Association flagged their "extreme concern" in a letter to federal minerals and resources minister Ian McFarlane.

According to the group - which includes Bogan (Nyngan), Bourke, Brewarrina and Cobar councils - radioactive waste bound for Woomera should be transported by "rail only".

"(The) roads in the far west region would not stand the usage of heavy transport vehicles and local governments do not have the resources that would be needed to maintain those roads to an acceptable and safe level expected and required," the letter stated.

As well as urging rail transportation, the group also called for an "adequate guarantee" that safety controls would be exercised during the movement of the waste material.

Group president Jenny McLellan, who signed off on the letter, asked for a guarantee that procedures were in place for the control, security and disaster management of the waste as it moved through remote areas.

"The (group) is also seeking assurances that means will be taken to protect the water resources of the Great Artesian Basin in respect to monitoring and containment of material," the letter noted.

"Will the proposed destination dump be supervised and monitored to ensure any spills and leakages are dealt with efficiently?"

Dubbo City Council is waiting until it receives more information from the Federal Government before it makes a firm decision on the transportation of the material but already Orange City Council has registered its opposition. Under the proposal 130 truck loads of low-level and short-lived radioactive waste will be transported through the central west and far west to an
outback dump with Bathurst, Orange, Dubbo, Cobar and Broken Hill on the preferred route.

THE transportation of nuclear waste through Orange is a step closer but environmentalists and local politicians have vowed to fight the proposal.

A Federal Government plan to transport nuclear waste from Lucas Heights reactor in Sydney to a dump in South Australia received a boost last week with the release of an Environment Impact Assessment that proposed a route through the Central West.

But the proposal was yesterday condemned by the Friends of the Earth, Member for Calare Peter Andren and Orange City councillor Dave Shearing.

Friends of the Earth estimate 130 truckloads of waste will be shipped through Orange in the dump's first year.

"(The proposal) is still awaiting the final pass by Environment Minister David Kemp but the Federal Government has said it plans to go ahead," Friends of the Earth nuclear freeways co-ordinator Loretta O'Brien said.

"What that means is the plan to move waste through the Blue Mountains and Orange will go ahead.

We have argued that transporting the waste and dumping it in the desert increases the risk to residents along the way and to the area around the dump. (The waste) should be stored above the ground close to the place of production."

Ms O'Brien said there had been a lack of consultation and she encouraged residents to protest directly to the Federal Government.

She called on the State Government to tighten legislation to stop the transportation.

She said the first waste could be shipped through Orange later this year.

Cr Dave Shearing said world's best practice was storing waste above ground on site. He said local emergency crews were not equipped to deal with nuclear spills.

"It is a crazy plan and the government is not taking notice of what is
happening with waste overseas."

Mr Andren said a coalition of local governments on the route should be formed to oppose the plan. "I would suggest the mountain route is the most dangerous of all routes," he said.

He said an air option was included in the Environment Impact Assessment but was ruled out as too expensive.

"What's the cost of not using air? To get the bulk of this material moved in a couple of air lifts would be the sensible thing," he said.

He said the lifts could be undertaken by the military.

The Federal Government has indicated the waste would be transported by licensed private contractors; a practice, it said, that had an excellent safety record and was already carried out routinely.

Despite protests from the states, most notably South Australia threatening to take the issue to the High Court, the Federal Government has said the Commonwealth law would override any State laws or protests against the dump or transport route.