The storage facility, made with concrete and steel, was kept secret at the request of the Health Ministry. Video / Ben Dickens / Michael Morrah / Corey Fleming
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said he would be comfortable living next to a radioactive waste facility in Manawatū.
The Ministry of Health’s Dr Diana Sarfati defended not informing the public, citing national security and terrorism concerns.
Local landowners, including Mary Wilson, expressed outrage over the lack of consultation and warning signs.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has claimed he’d be comfortable living next to a radioactive waste facility, saying a storage site secretly built in rural Manawatū is not a risk to the public.
The Herald revealed on Monday the Health Ministry redesignated a portion of New Zealand Defence Force land near Palmerston North to build the facility, which has been operating since February.
The facility is being used to store all of the country’s low to intermediate-level radioactive waste.
Intermediate-level waste, which includes disused radioactive sources from industry and medicine, can take hundreds of years to decay to a safe level.
The Ministry of Health said the contents of the facility include applicators which used radioactive strontium-90 for the treatment of eye cancer, bone density scanners containing radioactive americium 241, X-ray fluorescence analyserscontaining a range of radioactive elements to determine the composition of metal, and density meters, which have a radioactive source and are used to measure soil density and moisture levels used in road construction.
The facility is the national storage site for all of New Zealand's radioactive waste and was planned and built in secrecy at the request of government officials.
Asked whether he’d be comfortable living next door to such a facility, Luxon said he would.
‘Yes, I would. The Ministry of Health delivers this [the facility] in a safe, secure and responsible way, consistent with national security considerations.”
Neighbouring landowner Mary Wilson said she was “horrified” after learning of what was inside the building when she queried the contents of the facility with Manawatū District Council staff in July.
She said Luxon shouldn’t be so quick to accept what Health Ministry officials say is a guarantee of safety.
“Did the air force assure him their planes he’s travelled in would get him to his destination? Would he have sailed around Samoa on the Manawanui?”
Mary Wilson, whose family has been farming in the area since 1873, lives near the national storage facility for radioactive waste in Manawatū operated by the Ministry of Health. Photo / Ben Dickens
She questioned Luxon’s ability to make such a comment, given his current living arrangement.
“He’s not living next to a waste facility. And I can’t recall how many times I’ve heard Luxon use the word transparency, but it’s been used a lot.”
The Director-General of Health, Dr Diana Sarfati, has defended a decision not to inform the public about the facility, suggesting it could be a target for terrorism.
“Terrorism [around the world] has increased over time. So, there is this extra layer of caution to not make public the sites of this sort of material,” she told the Herald.
Director-General of Health Diana Sarfati.
Sarfati acknowledged the concerns of locals but said the waste is “encapsulated in concrete” and “very, very safe”.
Australian radiation safety expert emeritus professor Ian Lowe said the facility should have exterior signs warning of the presence of radioactive materials. The only signs seen by the Herald on the facility’s perimeter fence stated it was a “defence area”, which locals have called “deliberately deceptive”.
Sarfati said the radiation warning signage is inside the building and she’s satisfied security would prevent access by the public.
“It’s in a restricted area fully fenced and you can’t get into the facility. If you somehow manage to, there is clear signage [inside]. There is absolutely no reason why anyone should be doing that.”
She noted the facility met international standards and while radiation monitors are worn, protective clothing isn’t required when scientists work inside the facility.
National security concerns?
The national storage facility for radioactive waste in Manawatū is operated by the Ministry of Health. Photo / Ben DIckens
There are conflicting accounts over why the public was not informed about the planning and construction of the building.
The Ministry of Health told the Herald on Tuesday that it sought a non-notifiable resource consent from the Manawatū District Council when planning the facility, because of national security concerns.
But this is at odds with information the council provided the Herald, with a spokeswoman saying no resource consent was required.
The council’s spokeswoman said the plan for the facility was approved based on the redesignation of the land which was changed from “defence purposes” to “storage purposes”.
“No resource consents were required as the proposed works were determined to be in accordance with the designation and the associated condition,” she said.
The spokeswoman said the council considered whether the redesignation of land required limited or public consultation and concluded it did not.
Sarfati said ministry officials met with council officers, including the mayor, in November 2020 to discuss the radioactive waste facility and national security concerns.
A Health Ministry spokeswoman subsequently told the Herald the council’s description of the process “will be a more definitive one.”
Lowe was critical of the secretive approach by New Zealand authorities.
”Perhaps the government doesn’t want to arouse unnecessary fears, but I think it is good practice to be open,” he said.
Michael Morrah is a senior investigative reporter/team leader at the Herald. He won the best coverage of a major news event at the 2024 Voyager NZ Media Awards and has twice been named reporter of the year. He has been a broadcast journalist for 20 years and joined the Herald’svideo team in July 2024.
