The Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) has issued a licence to the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation to prepare a site for the ANSTO Nuclear Medicine Molybdenum-99 Facility at Lucas Heights.
The move prompted Sutherland Shire mayor Steve Simpson to renew the council's calls for the federal government to address the problem of long-term management of radioactive waste from the Lucas Heights centre and establish a national nuclear waste repository as priority.
‘‘The Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) has announced it has granted a licence for ANSTO to increase the production of medical isotopes, which brings to the fore, the dire need for a permanent nuclear storage centre,’’ Cr Simpson said.
The new nuclear medicine manufacturing centre to be built at the Lucas Heights site will at least triple the production of the nuclear medicine Molybdenum-99, which is used to detect life-threatening illnesses. http://www.theleader.com.au/story/1296566/council-seeks-more-information-on-ansto-proposal/
A Synroc waste treatment plant – the first of its kind in the world - and which would be built to treat waste generated by the new centre, is still under review.
If approved the plant would solidify the liquid waste and make it transportable.
‘‘The repository needs to be built now,’’ Cr Simpson said.
‘‘For too long, the government has ignored the outstanding problems of nuclear waste management.
‘‘The people of Sutherland Shire call on the government to address the long-term future of nuclear waste associated with the continued operation of the ANSTO reactor and increased waste production associated with the new nuclear medicine centre.''
Cr Simpson said the lack of a repository had prompted ANSTO to request approval to construct an interim storage centre at its Lucas Heights site.
‘‘Reprocessed fuel will be returned to Australia from France in 2015; other shipments of reprocessed and conditioned fuel will follow in subsequent years,'' he said.
‘‘We are concerned that in the absence of a national repository, not only will the 2015 shipment be sent to ANSTO but subsequent shipments will be sent to Lucas Heights for storage, which is not a suitable site for a radioactive waste repository.
‘‘The continued transportation of intermediate level radioactive waste to Lucas Heights in the form of reprocessed fuel represents an unnecessary risk to the surrounding residents and communities.’’
ANSTO said the two facilities will cost $168 million to build, inject $1 billion into the Australian economy, create at least 150 local jobs and put Australia at the forefront of nuclear technology.
The Leader has received the following comment from ANSTO:
In September 2012, the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) announced plans for an export-scale nuclear medicine manufacturing plant at our campus in Lucas Heights, in Sydney’s Sutherland Shire.
Today it has been announced that the plans have been approved by the independent nuclear regulator, the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA), which undertook an expert assessment including a submissions and community consultation process.
Under the plans, ANSTO will take a global leadership role in the production of molybdenum-99 (Mo-99), which becomes technetium-99m (Tc-99m) and is used in hospitals and medical centres for the diagnosis of heart disease, cancer and muscular and skeletal conditions.
Every week nuclear medicines are transported to more than 250 hospitals and medical centres across Australia, and more than 550,000 people receive a diagnosis using this medicine every single year.
While world demand for Mo-99 is increasing, global supply is falling. A new ANSTO facility will enable Australia to help meet local and global demand with medicine using only Low Enriched Uranium.
“ANSTO has 60 years of experience in safely managing science infrastructure right here in the Shire, and we are pleased that expertise and the quality of our plans has been recognised through the approval by the independent regulator,” said an ANSTO spokesperson.
“ANSTO has a long, proud tradition of working closely with our community as we develop infrastructure and services that improves the environment, contributes to Australian industry, improves health outcomes and potentially saves lives.
“While this is a good thing for patients and non-proliferation, it has always been ANSTO’s position that the most appropriate location for storage of by-products from nuclear medicine production is in a permanent national repository. ANSTO continues to join with the council and community to advocate that view.”
See related stories: http://www.theleader.com.au/story/346153/anstos-global-medical-role-with-synroc/
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