As holders of Australia’s first, and only, licence for the permanent disposal of low-level radioactive waste (LLW), Tellus is proud of its role in cleaning up Australia, as well as enabling the transition to a green economy.
We realise there is much more work ahead to achieve this vision. But when a milestone is passed, we take a moment to celebrate—and last month marked two years since we gained our LLW licence.
In that time, we have permanently and safely disposed of more than 6,000 cubic metres of LLW at our facility at Sandy Ridge, in the WA Goldfields. This LLW has made its way to Sandy Ridge from every mainland state and territory.
More than half of this LLW contains naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM). This includes 2,000 cubic metres of soil material from a site at Hunters Hill, on Sydney Harbour, that was contaminated for more than 100 years. This contaminated material made the 3,500 km journey to Sandy Ridge in 199 containers.
Other types of NORM waste now safely buried forever at Sandy Ridge include: contaminated components from decommissioned oil and gas infrastructure; fouled filters; and material from mineral processing plants. The latter is a fine example of the contribution Sandy Ridge is making to a circular economy: all forms of critical mineral extraction and processing, so important for renewable energy, create NORM contaminated waste.
In a further milestone, last month we performed our first permanent disposal of Disused Sealed Radioactive Sources (DSRS). There’s another 1,398 DSRS in storage in preparation for future safe disposal.
As positive as this story is, it is important to remember how much LLW is stored around the country in less-than-optimal circumstances. For example, according to the Australian Radioactive Waste Agency’s 2021 Commonwealth inventory of radioactive waste, ANSTO has 2,490 cubic metres of LLW awaiting permanent disposal.
We are ready and able to dispose of this material, and much more, at Sandy Ridge. And rest assured, you’d be hard-pressed to find anywhere else on earth that provides a safer, permanent solution for LLW.