Barndioota property has been pinpointed for a proposed nuclear waste dump.
(Photo: Reuters/Christian Charisius)

A remote South Australian cattle station part owned by former Liberal senator Grant Chapman has been short-listed as the possible site for Australia’s nuclear waste dump.

Grant Chapman part-owns the property at Barndioota about 500 km north of Adelaide near the Flinders Ranges, which has been pinpointed ahead of five other sites for the facility.

It is almost 40 years since such a facility was first proposed under the Fraser government for the storage of radioactive material arising from medical, scientific and industrial endeavours.

Federal Resources Minister Josh Frydenberg has insisted the South Australian site is not the final decision and says further consultation and analysis will need to be undertaken.

He added that Mr Chapman had volunteered his property for consideration but was not involved in the assessment process. “Obviously Grant Chapman had no say in the final outcome, it was all done at arm’s length,” he said.

Mr Frydenberg has also played down the impact of the low-level waste to communities nearby any dump site, saying it was the ‘gloves, goggles and test tubes’ that came in contact with nuclear medicine.

Local residents will be given 12 months to negotiate a community package, with up to $2 million expected to be made available for projects.

– with other agencies