HILL End residents were in a state of shock yesterday after the announcement that the neighbouring hamlet of Sallys Flat had been named as one of six sites for Australia’s first permanent nuclear waste dump for low-level and intermediate waste.
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Located about 15 kilometres from Hill End in mountainous country, Sallys Flat consists of a well-maintained cemetery, Catholic church, farming properties and two signs marking the hamlet’s existence.
The area is steeped in history, tracing its roots back to the heyday of the Australian gold rush.
It is a place more in keeping with the 19th century, rather than the nuclear age.
Despite their shock and the lack of details, yesterday’s announcement had the locals in fighting mode.
Hill End resident Ross Brown said he first heard of the proposal when he was contacted by a media organisation at 6am.
“My major concern is losing the quiet, peaceful country existence and the logistics of the whole thing,” he said.
“We have a lot of caravans and tourists visit here, and I don’t think a nuclear waste dump will attract tourists.
“The government might try to buy acceptance, but that’s not going to work here.
“We don’t know what’s happening, and we don’t know where it is going to be, everything is hearsay at the moment.”
Nick Harvey, who has lived in Hill End since the 1950s, said a farmer told him about the possibility of a nuclear dump in the area a few weeks ago.
“I was surprised that they would consider such an area because of the surrounding population centres of Bathurst, Lithgow and Mudgee,” he said.
“If there’s an accident when they are transporting it and it got spilled, it would be an environmental disaster.
“I don’t think anyone wants it close to them.
“They should look at the dead heart of Australia. What’s wrong with the Simpson Desert?
“Alternatively, what’s wrong with Canberra?”
Mr Harvey said he had been told the National Parks and Wildlife Service had briefed staff about the proposal but had sworn them to secrecy.
Residents were also angry that Bathurst Regional Council held a village meeting in Hill End on Thursday night, which was attended by mayor Gary Rush and several councillors, but there was no mention of the proposal.
They now plan to hold a public meeting but want the stakeholders involved to attend to provide details about the proposal.
Bathurst Community Climate Action Network president Tracey Carpenter described the proposal as “preposterous”.
“Australian has been searching for somewhere to dump this low-level nuclear waste for more than 40 years and nobody wants it,” she said.
“For whomever put forward Sallys Flat as a nuclear dumping ground I quote Wikipedia on Lucas Heights, site of Sydney’s low-level nuclear reactor: ‘Unusually for a suburb, Lucas Heights does not contain a residential area. The residential area previously part of Lucas Heights was renamed Barden Ridge in 1996 to increase the real estate value of the area, as it would no longer be instantly associated with the HIFAR nuclear reactor’.”
