Nuke waste dump plan fuels protests

Empty nuclear waste shipping containers. Photo / AP

South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill has run the gauntlet of anti-nuclear protesters as his government edges towards a decision on the proposal to build a high-level nuclear waste dump in the state's north.

The premier was heckled by several hundred anti-nuclear activists entering the Labor Party state convention in Adelaide yesterday as they called on him to scrap the idea.

Spokesman and anti-nuclear campaigner Dave Sweeney said South Australia was so much more than a dumping site.

"This is a bad idea, it's a thought bubble that should have burst on day one," he said.

"We will not be burying waste, we will be burying this idea."

The convention was to consider a number of motions related to the dump, including one calling for the Government to hold a referendum on the issue.

Others called for the Government to delay any decision until after the issue was discussed at the next national Australian Labor Party conference and one called for a special state convention to be convened.

There was also a motion from the Maritime Union of Australia that called for the state government to "cease and desist" any further action to consider nuclear waste dumps of any kind.

The state government remains committed to making a decision on the dump proposal by the end of the year but concedes, even if it gets approval, it would still take years before SA reached a point of no turning back.

- AAP