A Milestone for Sandy Ridge

What a year! Tellus has accepted for disposal more than 5,700 cubic metres of low-level radioactive waste (LLW) at our Sandy Ridge geological repository 240km northwest of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia.

The milestone comes as Tellus recently celebrated Sandy Ridge’s first anniversary as Australia’s first (and only) operational nationwide radioactive waste facility.

LLW accepted at Sandy Ridge includes government and industry waste sources from every mainland state and territory. It represents more than twice the volume of LLW in temporary storage at ANSTO’s Lucas Heights nuclear reactor site. 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.

With the clock ticking on the capacity of Lucas Heights to store additional LLW, the Australian Government last year abandoned a plan to develop a LLW facility at Kimba, in regional South Australia. No new proposed site has been announced.

Tellus CEO Nate Smith said: “Gaining our licence was an incredible milestone – for Tellus as the first nationwide radioactive waste facility, but also for Australia. For the first time in our nation’s history, there’s a permanent and safe place to dispose of hazardous LLW from Australian industry and research organisations.”

Tellus began operations in 2020 initially under a licence to dispose of hazardous chemical waste. Since then, we have disposed of tens of thousands of tonnes of hazardous chemical waste, in addition to LLW. Much of this waste comes from the mining, energy, oil and gas, and critical minerals industries, helping to fulfil Tellus’ purpose to safeguard the clean energy transition.

As the first of its kind in Australia, Sandy Ridge has attracted significant interest; since early 2023, Tellus has hosted visits from ARWA, the Australian Safeguards and Non-Proliferation Office, CSIRO, BGE TECHNOLOGY GmbH, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), WA EPA / Department of Water and Environmental Regulation, Radiological Council and the Hon Madeleine King MP, Minister for Resources and Northern Australia.

“Our community and our customers want to know there are waste solutions that are absolutely safe, backed by the highest scientific, regulatory and ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) standards. We have been proud to partner to help our customers grow sustainably,” Mr Smith said.

A key ingredient in Tellus’ success has been gaining and maintaining social licence. Our position in the Goldfields region is underpinned by a native title agreement with the Marlinyu-Ghoorlie traditional owners.

Late last year, Tellus also reached agreement with the Titjikala people near Alice Springs to proceed with a second low level radioactive waste disposal project, Chandler, a deep geological repository.

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