Despite former Resources Minister Matthew Canavan announcing Kimba as the site for the National Radioactive Waste Management Facility on Saturday, local residents opposed to the decision are insisting "the fight is far from over".
Kimba farmer and No Radioactive Waste on Agricultural Land in Kimba or SA committee member James Shepherdson said while the announcement had "dampened" his hopes, the committee would not back down.
"We aren't going to accept this Minister's decision, there is no way we are going to lay down now, the whole process has been so wrong right from the start," he said.
Mr Shepherdson said the committee was not against the construction of a nuclear waste facility, but believed housing a facility on agricultural land was the wrong choice, due to the risk of radiation levels in grain in years to come.
He said funding injections, such as a $20-million NRWMF community fund, did not outweigh potential problems with grain quality.
"Farmers are under scrutiny and at the beck and call of buyers and brokers, and to risk what is an $80m income for this district every 12 months, for a one-off $20m payment, that's absurd," he said.
"The people in favour (of the facility being built), I can see it from their point of view, they want financial prosperity for the town and area, but to risk it all just for a bit of prosperity is madness.
Seeing as this is the entire nation's waste, and we all share the responsibility of nuclear medicine, why shouldn't it be a national decision?
- JAMES SHEPHERDSON
"I've got no problems that this won't have any physical leakages in the next 30 or 40 years, regulation will be very heavy, but in the next 100 years, history tells us that things (like regulation) lapse. We just don't know what's going to change in the future," he said.
Mr Shepherdson was also disappointed with how indication of support for the proposal was obtained, with only those within the Kimba council area receiving a vote in the ballot.
"Seeing as this is the entire nation's waste, and we all share the responsibility of nuclear medicine, why shouldn't it be a national decision?" he said.
"At the least, the entire EP should have been consulted. We've got people who are closer to the site than the township of Kimba is, but aren't in the council boundary, who did not get a vote."
He was also disappointed at the federal government's lack of consultation with the land's traditional owners, the Barngarla people.
It is a clear message that (Senator Canavan) had no interest whatsoever in listening to what we have to say.
- PETER WOOLFORD
Mr Shepherdson said the community had not initially been told that the facility would be used to temporarily store intermediate-level radioactive waste, in addition to the storage and disposal of low-level waste.
On Sunday, more than 300 people attended a rally in Kimba in opposition to the facility, with the rally planned long before the facility announcement was made the previous day.
No Radioactive Waste on Agricultural Land in Kimba or SA president Peter Woolford said the announcement showed a "complete lack of respect" of the opinions of the community.
"It is a clear message that (Senator Canavan) had no interest whatsoever in listening to what we have to say," Mr Woolford said.
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