A nuclear waste disposal site in outback South Australia could be highly profitable, but would require construction of a new, secure port and railway, a Royal Commission has found.
South Australia’s Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission this week tentatively found that creation of an international nuclear waste dump in the state could be economically beneficial.
Only marginal benefit would be gained from a variety of sub-functions of the nuclear industry such as exploration, extraction & milling; further processing and manufacture; or electricity generation.
But the Commission concluded that there could be strong economic benefits from taking in other countries’ industrial-, research-, and medically-originated radioactive waste.
“Modelling… suggests the addition to gross state product would be about 5% by 2029 ($16.8 billion),” the Commission’s first report states.
The report then goes on to address nuclear waste supply chain and transport issues.
“The development of a proposal to receive used fuel would require the construction of a new secured port and railway,” the report states. “…as the casks weigh more than 100 tonnes, they require cranes and heavy vehicles to move.
“Nuclear and radioactive materials are routinely transported between domestic and international destinations.
“Consignments include natural uranium, enriched uranium fuels, medical isotope products and radioactive waste materials.
“Shipments are made by road, rail, air and sea, depending upon such factors such as the nature of the radioactivity and the size and weight of the material,” the Commission states.
International sea-borne shipments of spent radioactive fuels and wastes are “routine,” the report says, and are carried by “vessels which have specific additional features that protect the cask from impact”.
“In many cases, shipments are conveyed on purpose-built vessels which incorporate double hulls and additional reinforcement, and are dedicated to the carriage of used fuel.”
This article originally appeared in Rail Express affiliate Lloyd’s List Australia.