Past siting process for a national radioactive waste management facility

Find out how we assessed and shortlisted sites including Napandee in South Australia.

About the process

The Commonwealth Government led a 7 year siting process following the National Radioactive Waste Management Act 2012.

We intended the facility to: 

  • permanently dispose of low level radioactive waste 
  • temporarily store intermediate level radioactive waste.

The site selection process included:

  • voluntary nomination
  • public and community consultation
  • technical assessments.

Napandee site timeline

  • Call for voluntary site nominations (March 2015)

    The government called for site nominations for the NRWM facility. 

  • Siting process (2015 - 2021)

    We assessed more than 40 sites across Australia. Shortlisted sites included Napandee near Kimba in South Australia, Lyndhurst and Wallerberdina. 

  • Site declared (November 2021)

    The former minister declared Napandee in South Australia as the site. 

  • Site declaration challenge filed in Federal Court (December 2021)

    The Barngarla Determination Aboriginal Corporation (BDAC), representing the Traditional Owners, filed for judicial review of the site declaration. 

  • Napandee is no longer the declared site for the facility (July 2023)

    The Federal Court set aside the declaration.

  • Government announced they would not pursue shortlisted sites (August 2023)

    The Minister for Resources confirmed the government would no longer consider Napandee or the other shortlisted Lyndhurst and Wallerberdina sites.

Site activities and related information

Factors we considered in the siting process

We considered factors such as cultural heritage, environment, social and economic impact and facility land requirements.

Facility land requirements

Find out how our land needs changed after we did site characterisation studies at Napandee.

Site characterisation activities

We performed site activities at Napandee including flora and fauna, geological and soil studies.

National radioactive waste management facility consultative committees

Community members and committees advised on the operation and support for the facility.

More information

Read about ARWA’s current activities
Find earlier work to nominate a site on Trove, the Australia Government web archive