Date: 13 April 2005

OPAL Reactor Submission Deadline Extended

ARPANSA has extended its deadline for public submissions on the OPAL research reactor operating licence application lodged by the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) by four months.

CEO Dr John Loy said, “When it applied for the operating licence in September 2004, ANSTO submitted that some information should not be publicly released on the grounds that it was either a threat to physical security or commercial-in-confidence. After consideration of these matters, I have reached agreement with ANSTO and a final public version of the application will soon be available.

Parts D and E will be added to ARPANSA’s web site in summary form. A revised version of Part C of the application, with security-in-confidence details removed, will also be sent to state libraries nationally and to pre-identified environmental groups and other stakeholders with an interest in the reactor project as soon as it is provided by ANSTO. As a result, I am extending the deadline for public submissions by four months – to 31 August.”

A public version of the Probabilistic Safety Analysis submitted as part of the application will also soon be available on the web site.

ARPANSA expects to receive a final report from the visiting international Peer Review Team that recently reviewed the OPAL reactor operating licence application later this month, and it will be published on the agency’s web site. The report will comment upon ANSTO’s proposed arrangements for operating the reactor and the detailed commissioning documentation. John Loy will fully examine those matters.

John Loy has asked ARPANSA’s Nuclear Safety Committee for specific advice on the operating licence application, and expects to receive and publish their report by the end of July. To further inform his end decision-making, John Loy plans to hold a two-day public forum on the application in late October. It is also anticipated that he will invite a second round of public submissions, probably by the end of November.

ENDS