Science Minister Julie Bishop said the site would be used to store low and intermediate radioactive waste, including processed fuel rods from the country's only nuclear reactor at Lucas Heights, on the outskirts of Sydney.

The Northern Land Council, the indigenous organisation which helped negotiate the deal on behalf of Aboriginal landholders, said the 12 million dollars (9.1 million US) the community would receive under the deal would benefit generations.

Council chairman John Daly said there were no safety concerns about the proposal.

"We believe it will be safe and we have Australia's best scientists dealing with it," Daly told reporters.

Under the deal, the Ngapa clan will receive phased payments of 11 million dollars into a charitable trust to benefit traditional owners.

Another million dollars will be provided to enhance education opportunities for Aborigines in the Muckaty Station area.

The Muckaty site is one of four still being considered by the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), which runs the Lucas Heights reactor.

However, it is the only one where locals have welcomed the plan. Daly said he was confident it would be selected.

Greens senator Christine Milne said the deal exploited Aborigines and showed Prime Minister John Howard's eagerness to embrace nuclear power.

"The 12 million dollar deal to pay off the Northern Land Council is a joke," she told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

"This nuclear waste has a half-life of 25,000 years and will be dangerous for more than a quarter of a million years.

"This is the first step to making Australia a global nuclear waste dump. It's Howard's vision for the country."

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