Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management, Australian National Report, July 2003

The responsibility for the governance of Australia is shared by Australia's federal government (also known as the Commonwealth government) and the governments of the six states and two self governing territories. Responsibility for radiation health and safety in each State and Territory rests with the respective State/Territory government, unless the activity is carried out by a Commonwealth agency or a contractor to a Commonwealth agency; in those cases the activity is regulated by the Federal government (Commonwealth government of Australia).
In terms of the Joint Convention there are therefore nine jurisdictions that have to be considered. The legislative and regulatory requirements of these jurisdictions with respect to management of spent fuel and radioactive waste are not identical, but are often similar. Accordingly, throughout the rest of this document, the similarities and differences are detailed.
Australia has no nuclear power reactors and only one operational research reactor. This simplifies the situation with respect to spent fuel management, as the federal jurisdiction is the only one with responsibility for the management of spent fuel.
Australia has several operational uranium mines, a large number of mineral sand mines, and large coal and aluminium mining industries. These operations produce very large quantities of waste containing radionuclides. There are also several uranium mines that are non- operational but are still under regulatory control because of the presence of potentially hazardous waste materials.
The Commonwealth of Australia, and all of its constituent states and territories, have in place, within the framework of appropriate law, the legislative, regulatory, and administrative measures, including monitoring, inspection and auditing, necessary for implementing all obligations under this Convention.