POTENTIAL hosts for the National Radioactive Waste Management Facility made a trip to the home of nuclear science, the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation in Sydney’s south.
Kimba landowners Brett and Michelle Rayner, who volunteered part of their property for consultation on the national facility, toured the site and met with its chief executive officer and Sutherland Shire mayor Carmelo Pesce to view how the radioactive waste is processed and stored.
Mr Rayner said he was originally against the waste site proposal until he attended a community meeting.
“I got the information and could see that there are no safety risks and there is opportunity for our community,” he said.
“Based on that, I volunteered my land, but coming to ANSTO and seeing this operation in person has really confirmed for me that this waste can and is being safely managed.”
Mrs Rayner said the trip showed the reality of a waste storage facility.
“What’s done at ANSTO is just mind-blowing, and what stood out is the wide variety of research that goes on here, that people maybe don’t realise the huge contribution nuclear science makes,” she said.
“I understand even more how safe the waste is, that if it’s stored the right way, you can not only be standing right next to it, but you can even be working with it in nothing more than normal clothes.”
Mr Pesce said ANTSO was the second largest employer in the council region.