On Jan 23 2002, the ‘Australian’ newspaper announced that Pangea had quietly closed its Australian operations and was no longer an active corporation.

The group has formally abandoned plans for a commercial high level waste dump, believing that the concept to be ‘too far into the future to justify the investment required.’ The key players from Pangea have established a new group known as ARIUS, described on their website:

“On 22nd February 2002 a small group of organisations from 5 countries inaugurated a new association to support the concept of sharing facilities for storage and disposal of all types of long-lived radioactive wastes. The new body -called ARIUS (Association for Regional and International Underground Storage)...”

Arius builds on the research carried out by Pangea to promote international high level nuclear waste dumps and is still focusing on the geological areas of most interest as ‘high isolation’ sites – central Australia, western China, South Africa and Argentina.

The difference is that the dump will not be commercial but is sounding much more like a public service to spirit away the nuclear waste of small countries without any clear ideas around waste management. We can breathe a sigh of relief that community opposition and a grassroots campaign saw Pangea retreat from these shores, but the nuclear waste is still piling up around the world. As long as groups exist promoting international transport and dumping of this least desirable of commodities, there will always be a need for community vigilance and international solidarity.