THE state government will face tough local opposition if it intends to take contaminated waste from a radioactive site in Hunters Hill and bury it at Kemps Creek in the city's west.
It conceded at a budget estimates hearing this week that Kemps Creek was the only viable option if 5800 tonnes of mildly radioactive dirt and rock were to be removed from the site of a former uranium-processing plant.
The waste cannot be taken overseas or interstate, but Penrith City Council remains firmly opposed to the plan, which was first floated under the previous state government. Documents produced last year showed waste was to be placed in sealed trucks and driven to Kemps Creek, and warned that protests against the operation were likely to take place in western Sydney.
''The council took the decision back then to oppose this plan and it is still opposed to it,'' the Penrith mayor, Greg Davies, said.
The Premier, Barry O'Farrell, tried to hose down the plan yesterday, saying no final decision had been reached.
''While you might all want to jump to conclusions, I encourage you to wait until the decision is made,'' Mr O'Farrell said yesterday. ''My position remains the same; I don't want to see radioactive toxic waste at Kemps Creek.''
But the Minister for Finance and Services, Greg Pearce, conceded in the budget estimates hearing that Kemps Creek was the only remaining option if the toxic dirt could not be remediated on site, while being questioned by Labor's environment spokesman, Luke Foley.
''Minister, you've told us in the last three minutes [that] international disposal is off the agenda, interstate disposal is off the agenda and there is no alternate waste site in NSW - so that narrows it somewhat to Kemps Creek,'' Mr Foley said.
''Well, it does,'' Mr Pearce replied. Mr Pearce said no decision had been made yet on whether the waste could be treated on site in Hunters Hill.
Cr Davies said people in the Penrith area did not want the plan to go ahead. ''I don't think people are going to be too happy - they are entitled to feel that they have been let down after what was said before the last election,'' he said.
Neither Penrith nor Hunters Hill council had been approached by the state government yesterday to discuss the options.
Another possible pitfall in the plan is that the Kemps Creek site can only take ''restricted'' waste, not radioactive waste.
SITA Environmental Solutions, the company that operates the waste facility, said if material was radioactive it could not be safely stored there.
"SITA has not been advised by the government of any decision relating to the waste at Hunters Hill and so we cannot comment further," the company said.
Hunters Hill Council wants the site cleaned up and the earth removed but does not want to simply transfer the problem to another part of Sydney.
The land, on Nelson Parade, was the site of a radium smelter between 1911 and 1916. About 500 tonnes of uranium ore were processed at the plant and radioactive tailings are still mixed in with soil.
At least six people who have lived on or next door to the site have died of cancer, but there is no proven link between elevated levels of radiation on the site and health problems.
Follow Environment on Twitter
