Conservation and alternative energy groups have led a chorus of criticism of proposals for South Australia to take the world's nuclear waste in return for billions of dollars and thousands of jobs.
A royal commission has found nuclear power is not viable but a waste storage facility would generate $257 billion.
Business SA says the proposal highlights significant opportunities for South Australia to build substantial wealth over the medium to long term.
Although chief executive Nigel McBride says the plan would not deal with the state's immediate economic issues.
Conservation groups have been more scathing, describing nuclear power as a dying industry and accusing the royal commission of ignoring the risks associated with waste storage including contamination, theft and terrorism.
"Sadly the royal commission is proving to be a toxic trojan horse for a dangerous and divisive plan to turn remote South Australia into a permanent radioactive waste zone," Australian Conservation Foundation campaigner Dave Sweeney said.
Under the model proposed by the commission, an above-ground storage site would initially host nuclear waste in "casks" made of metal or concrete.
The waste would later be stored deep underground in purpose-built canisters.
A storage and disposal facility with a capacity of 138,000 tonnes - or about 13 per cent of the world's projected used fuel inventory - would generate more than $257 billion in revenue over its 120-year lifespan.
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Total costs for the facility would reach $145 billion with employment peaking at about 5000 jobs during construction before tailing off to 600 during operations.
Friends of the Earth said the commission's findings came without a detailed analysis of how the nuclear waste could be safely transported and stored.
While the Solar Citizens lobby group said the commission's findings showed nuclear power was not the solution to South Australia's energy needs.
South Australian Greens MP Mark Parnell said the commission's findings came as no surprise but were based on "dubious economics, heroic assumptions and a big dose of guess work".
The SA opposition said any move to expand South Australia's role in the nuclear industry needed to be a community decision with support from the state and federal governments.
The Australian Democrats called on SA Premier Jay Weatherill to put any plans for a nuclear waste dump to a referendum at the next state election in 2018.
But the Institute of Pubic Affairs said it was disappointing the royal commission appeared to draw a line through the idea of SA embracing nuclear power.
"Nuclear energy offers the opportunity for reliable, locally-generated baseload electricity of a scale that could power a resurgence in manufacturing and be exported to other states, director of energy and innovation policy Brett Hogan said.
