Sutherland Shire Council has asked ANSTO for more information on its proposed nuclear medicine facility and Synroc waste treatment plant at Lucas Heights before it can support the project.
ANSTO proposes to increase the production of medical isotopes at Lucas Heights and develop a new Synroc waste treatment plant.
The new nuclear medicine manufacturing facility will produce the nuclear medicine Molybdenum-99 which is used to detect life-threatening illnesses, helping around 550,000 people a year.
It treats and encapsulates wastes generated in the nuclear medicine manufacturing process.
Synroc was developed by ANSTO and can reduce waste volumes by up to 99 per cent of traditional methods.
In its submission on the proposal to the NSW Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works, the council said that while it supports the operations of ANSTO, in particular the production of nuclear medicine, the lack of detail associated with the size and scope of the proposal, and the outstanding issues of nuclear waste management are such that the council would require this information before providing its support to the Nuclear Medicine Project.
See more in Thursday's Leader
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