Statement of Intent

Dear Minister Ayres,

On behalf of the ANSTO Board of Directors, I am pleased to provide ANSTO’s Statement of Intent in response to your Statement of Expectations (SOE) dated 10 October 2025. As Australia’s centre of nuclear excellence, ANSTO is keen to harness its unique facilities, and scientific and technical workforce capabilities, to support the Government’s sovereign science, research and innovation priorities.

ANSTO’s work is aligned with the National Science and Research Priorities and directly contributes to the Future Made in Australia agenda. Through these activities, ANSTO will support improved health outcomes for Australians, national economic resilience and the transformation to net zero.

ANSTO operates in a highly technical, regulated and complex environment. Our prime priority is safety, for our workforce at Lucas Heights and the Australian Synchrotron in Melbourne, and the communities in which we are located.

ANSTO will continue to exercise its functions under the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation Act 1987 (ANSTO Act). Your SOE identifies several aligned functions, such as leveraging our ANSTO Synroc® research to assist with waste material produced during nuclear medicine production.

ANSTO’s mandated requirements under the ANSTO Act are broad, including our role as Australia’s international liaison on nuclear science and technology, international agreements, and matters of international concern. The ANSTO Board notes the Act’s authorisation of a broad range of activities relating to the provision of goods and services, which permits these activities to be conducted on both a commercial and non-commercial basis.

ANSTO recognises the financial imperatives outlined in your SOE and has developed a sustainability and prioritisation plan against a background of cost rises across both operational and capital projects. Many of our capital projects are novel and bespoke with complex outcomes around delivery and budgets. Working together with your Department and the Department of Health, ANSTO will continue to manage the cost of radioisotope production for Australia's nuclear medicine supply.

I am pleased to outline below how ANSTO will further the four nominated core activities.

1. Running the OPAL nuclear reactor safely and securely

ANSTO will manage its landmark scientific infrastructure to maximise utilisation and accessibility to researchers working on activities of national priority. This will include managing OPAL to deliver 300 operational days each year where no major maintenance is taking place, supporting irradiations for reliable nuclear medicine supply, neutron transmutation doped silicon irradiations and neutrons for advanced materials research.

ANSTO will maintain this infrastructure as fit-for-purpose, safe and secure by upgrading OPAL’s reactor control monitoring system, as well as a replacing the current heavy water inventory by 2027. ANSTO will responsibly manage its spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste arising from these essential activities including transport and interim storage requirements.

2. Manufacturing medical isotopes to support improved health outcomes for all Australians

ANSTO will support the health of Australians by producing or facilitating distribution of nuclear medicine products for patients to Australian clinics and hospitals efficiently, reliably and safely. ANSTO will leverage excess supply capacity to support international demand, generating export revenue.

As the Australian Government’s only manufacturing operation that produces therapeutic goods, ANSTO supplies radiopharmaceuticals that are delivered to more than 250 hospitals and medical practices across Australia each week, enabling 10-12,000 procedures for diagnosing and treating a wide range of diseases.

ANSTO will continue to work closely with Government to ensure reliable access to lifesaving nuclear medicines for the Australian public and strive to do so in the most cost-effective and efficient way possible. This includes the currently planned development of a new Nuclear Medicine Manufacturing Facility, which is being designed to high standards of reliability and production safety.

ANSTO will continue to support applied research on precision and novel nuclear medicines, including by collaborating with other research agencies through the Australian Research Council, Medical Research Future Fund, and the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy to support programs to develop, evaluate and optimise diagnostic and therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals and other methods for difficult-to-treat cancers and other diseases.

3. Managing waste responsibly as part of sovereign supply chain solutions

ANSTO will continue to safely manage its waste until a national repository becomes available. This includes lifecycle planning for ANSTO’s current and future radioactive waste generation, including conditioning, packaging, and interim storage as required.

ANSTO will continue to provide technical expertise and advice as required to the Australian Radioactive Waste Agency and the Government more broadly as it considers pathways for the permanent disposal of the nation’s radioactive waste.

ANSTO will continue developing and implementing ANSTO Synroc® waste treatment technology to minimise disposal volume and reduce both lifecycle cost and environmental risks associated with radioactive waste arising from Australia’s nuclear medicine production, as well as apply the technology to those wastes held by commercial clients.

ANSTO will continue to comprehensively verify and validate the first-of-a-kind waste treatment facility at Lucas Heights during an extended cold commissioning program prior to seeking approval from the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) to commence hot commissioning.

4. Making nuclear infrastructure available for research

ANSTO operates landmark national infrastructure with a value exceeding $1 billion, including the OPAL multi-purpose reactor, Australian Synchrotron, Australian Centre for Neutron Scattering, Centre for Accelerator Science, and National Deuteration Facility. These assets provide access for more than 8,000 annual users - typically from research, government, education, and industry sectors – and enable breakthroughs across fields from energy (hydrogen production and advanced batteries) to pharmaceutical development, sustainable agriculture, and low-energy electronics.

ANSTO participated in the Government’s Strategic Examination of Research and Development and National Research Infrastructure Roadmap. We look forward to the panel’s upcoming recommendations to Government and the potential application to ANSTO’s research and research collaboration.

ANSTO will refresh its research and development plan, aligning research activities and support with core priorities by initiating strategic programs and optimising research services and systems. Building on ANSTO’s Research Infrastructure Decadal Plan 2022 – 2032, ANSTO will prioritise its research infrastructure investments to support research by users and to support research outcomes directly undertaken by ANSTO in health, environment and advanced materials as well as in partnership and collaboration with others. ANSTO will use these results to deliver a roadmap that can drive co-investment for the next generation of research infrastructure.

Partnerships and Collaboration

ANSTO will continue to deliver on its core priorities, contributing to the Australian Government’s mission led science ecosystem by engaging in partnerships that bring co-investment and collaboration with other government science agencies, research organisations and private industry.

This includes:

• advising Government on the application of nuclear science, technology and engineering related to the acquisition of conventionally armed nuclear-powered submarines under AUKUS
• assisting national security agencies and the defence industry by providing access to unique forensics infrastructure and expertise
• leading and collaborating in research that leverages ANSTO’s nuclear science and technology to deliver benefits in environment, health and nuclear materials, and
• applying niche expertise and facilities to the advancement of the national Critical Minerals Strategy.

Critical and strategic minerals

ANSTO will use its bespoke minerals processing expertise to undertake applied research and development for third parties, on a commercial basis, across the Australian resources, environmental, defence, and waste management sectors. ANSTO will consult with the Government, including the Department of Industry, Science and Resources, Austrade, the Department of Defence, and other agencies to analyse how it can best support Australia’s critical minerals processing industry.

Sustainable operations, governance

As a Corporate Commonwealth entity, ANSTO undertakes important commercial and entrepreneurial business activities, which are specifically within the scope of the ANSTO Act. The ANSTO Board believes a commercial and entrepreneurial focus is important to the organisation’s long-term financial sustainability.

ANSTO will operate under principles enabling enduring and sustainable operations by implementing business plans emphasising customer value, pricing strategies, infrastructure optimisation, and high-impact research aligned with government priorities as well as functional plans focussed on digital transformation, supply chain optimisation and workforce development. In addition to its annual detailed capital budget process, ANSTO will conduct infrastructure replacement expenditure forecasting for work required through 2040.

ANSTO will operate in line with the functions and requirements outlined in the ANSTO Act and the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 as it delivers priorities under its refreshed organisational strategy proportionate to Government Appropriation.

The ANSTO Board will continue to oversee internal control through delegation to the Risk and Audit Committee. ANSTO will continue redesigning operating models and embedding fit-for-purpose processes to cultivate a culture of accountability, agility, and value for money.

Safety, people management and a skilled workforce

Community and workforce safety remain ANSTO’s highest priority. Rigorous safety assessments and risk mitigation strategies are managed through the ANSTO Enterprise Risk Management process. ANSTO proactively engages with its health and safety obligations under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Cth) and reports against those measures in its Annual Report.

ANSTO remains committed to employing robust cybersecurity, research security and intellectual property protections using an array of defensive architecture, while noting the significant investment requirements around relevant information technology architecture. This includes continuing to leverage Australian Signals Directorate services to support our security posture.

ANSTO complies with legislative obligations of regulators such as ARPANSA, the Therapeutic Goods Administration, and Comcare. ANSTO remains committed to the highest level of regulatory compliance in all aspects of operations. This compliance is fundamental to continuous improvement in our safety culture.

ANSTO is committed to further fostering a respectful, inclusive workplace environment by implementing best practice actions across the employment lifecycle supporting gender representation targets, equitable hiring practices, pay gap analysis, shift-work barrier analysis, flexible work hours and arrangements, and a comprehensive psychosocial safety program.

ANSTO will include direct employment of trade apprentices as a mechanism to build Australian skills in the domains of mechanical, electrical, and fabrication. ANSTO will engage with TAFE via a registered Apprentice Connect Australia Provider in 2026, co-delivering in-demand trade skills.

ANSTO is contributing to the nuclear specialist workforce pipeline and supporting capable nuclear-skilled professionals for the future defence industry through: