Plans for a radioactive waste dump in Australia, the first such facility of its kind in the country, are encountering trouble because of divisions within the indigenous community where it would be located.

Last month, the Australian Senate approved the National Radioactive Waste Management Bill, which proposes the construction of a nuclear waste dump in Muckaty Station. Australia does not have any nuclear power plants, but needs a repository for its medical and uranium mining waste, which is currently being held at temporary sites around the country.

The Muckaty site, situated about 75 miles (120 kilometers) north of the Tennant Creek township on Aboriginal land, has been under consideration as a potential dump site for the past six years, and