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Radioactive Waste (Regulation of Exports and Imports) Bill 1993 [Private Senator's Bill]
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WARNING: This Digest was prepared for debate and should not be taken as a complete guide to the legislation which may reflect amendments.
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Radioactive Waste (Regulation of Exports and Imports) Bill 1993
(Private Senator's Bill)
Date Introduced: 5 May 1993 House: Senate Introduced By: Senator Karin Sowada
Purpose To make it an offence to export and import radioactive waste.
Background There are approximately 3300 cubic metres of low and medium level solid radioactive waste in Australia, of which more than 3000 cubic metres is stored at Lucas Heights Research Laboratories (LHRL).' The remaining waste is made up of defence and non-Commonwealth waste. Approximately
60-70 cubic meters of radioactive waste is produced annually by medical, industrial and research organisations.2 These organisations are responsible for the storage and disposal of the wastes which they generate. Waste generated in Australia typically consists of contaminated soil, paper, plastic, glassware, protective clothing and laboratory equipment, radiation sources, electron tubes, smoke
detectors, luminescent signs, watch faces and compasses.3
Very low level radioactive waste consists mainly of shortlived radioactive material and is disposed of by the user at landfill sites. Low level radioactive waste consists mainly of refuse such as discarded protective clothing, used wrapping materials, worn out or damaged plant and equipment. Such waste contains low levels of radioactivity, generally requires little shielding during handling, and
is disposed off in a special repository. Medium level radioactive waste consists of irradiated fuel cladding, reactor components, chemical process residues, ion exchange resins and fitters. 4 Such waste requires careful handling and significant shielding. High level wastes occur where highly active spent fuel elements from nuclear reactors are stored/reprocessed. High level wastes require heavy shielding to control penetrating radioactivity. Should the spent fuel elements from the High Flux Australian Reactor (HI FAR) be reprocessed overseas in order to recover unused enriched uranium, a quantity of high level waste, which may be required by the processor to be returned to Australia, will be created. In addition, when HIFAR is decommissioned, some of the wastes from the decommissioning will exhibit medium to high levels of radioactivity.
This Bill has been introduced as a response to the passage of the Australian Nuclear Science and TechnologyAmendmentAct 1992. The Australian Nuclear Science and TechnologyAmendment Act 1992 included in the functions of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) the conditioning, managing and storing of certain radioactive waste; provided ANSTO with immunity from certain classes of State and Territory laws; and established (he Nuclear Safety Bureau (For further information on the Australian NuclearScience and TechnologyAmendmentAct 1992refer to the Digest for the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation Amendment Bill 1992.) The Australian Democrats objected to the passage of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology
Organisation Amendment Bill 1992 on a number of grounds, including that ' ... ANSTO now has a mandate to engage in commercial ventures dealing with radioactive waste without any reference to state planning and environmental controls. oS; that it allows' ... for the importation of radioactive waste generated from the overseas reprocessing of spent fuel rOds.,sj and that it increases' ... the potential for Australia's involvement in the international waste trade, .. .'.
On 21 December 1992, the Minister for Primary Industries and Energy and the Minister for Science and Technology issued a 'Joint Statement' announcing that the Government would legislate to prohibit the importation of high level nuclear waste of foreign origin. A rationale for the announcement is given by the Ministers in the 'Joint Statement' where they say ' ... community
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Radioactive Waste (Regulation of Exports and Imports) Bill 1992
concerns about the possibility of radioactive waste being imported to service a waste disposal industry, and uncertainty about the Opposition's intentions have led the Government to propose a legislative ban.'
The Ministers' Joint Statement' received quaiified support from the Australian Democrats. In a 'Media Release' of 21 December 1992, the Australian Democrats spokesperson on Science and Technology, while welcoming the 'Joint Statement', said 'However, the failure to ban exports of Australian nuclear waste means that high-level waste from the HIFAR reactor at Lucas Heights could
go overseas to end up being reprocessed into nuclear weapons.'
The Commonwealth can use various constitutional powers to regulate nuclear/radioactive material, including: â¢
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section 51 (i) - trade and commerce power: to regulate interstate or overseas trade. Production of nuciear materials within a State is not generally within Commonwealth power unless the production is intended for interstate or overseas trade; section 51 (iv) - defence power; section 51 (xx) - corporations power: to regulation production os such material by trading
corporations, financial corporations formed within the Commonwealth and foreign corporations; section 51 (XXiX) - external affairs power: to regulate In areas the subject of international agreements; section 52(i) - Commonwealth places: to regulate activities in places acquired by the Commonwealth for public purposes; section 86 - customs power: to prohibit or regulate the export or import of nuclear material; and section 122 - Territories power: to control or prohibit in a Territory the production or release of such material.
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Where the Commonwea~h validly uses one or more of these powers in legislation, then those iegislative provisions override any State legislation which is inconsistent with those provisions, This is because section 109 of the Constitution provides that a Commonwealth law overrides any State law which is inconsistent with a Commonwealth law.
Main Provisions 'Radioactive waste' is defined by clause 3 to mean waste that is radioactive and has come from mining, research, industrial, medical or military activity, and includes: ⢠spent nuclear fuel elements from a research reactor; ⢠any1hing that has been contaminated in the production, conditioning, management, use or
storage of radioactive material; and radioactive waste from a space program.
Clause 5 makes ~ an offence, punishable by a maximum fine of $1 million, for a person to export from or import into Australia radioactive waste.
The effect of clause 6 will be to prohib~ ANSTO, or any company in which ANSTO holds a controlling interest, to export from or import· into Australia radioactive waste.
References 1. Safety Review Committee, Management Of Radioactive Waste At Lucas Heights Research Laboratories, August 1991, p. 19. 2. Ibid.
3. National Resource Information Centre, A Radioactive Waste Repository For Australia: Methods For Choosing The Right Site, October 1992, p. 2. 4. Safety Review Committee, Management Of Radioactive Waste At Lucas Heights Research Laboratories, August 1991, pp. 4 and 5.
5. Second Reading Speech, Radioactive Waste (Regulation Of Exports And Imports) Bill 1992, p.2. 6. Ibid., at p. 6.
7. Ibid., at p. 8.
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Bills Digest Servlce Parliamentliry Research Servlce
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21 April 1993
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Radioactive Waste (Regulation of Exports and Imports) Bill 1992
For further information, if required, contact the Science, Technoiogy and Environment Group on 062772420
This Digest does not have any official legal status. Other sources shouid be consulted to determine the subsequent official status of the Biil.
© Commonwealth of Austraiia 1993.
Except to the extent of the uses permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without the prior written consent of the Pariiamentary Library, other than by Members of the Austraiian Parliament in the course of their official duties.
Published by the Department of the Parliamentary Library, 1993.
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