South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill says he will persist with considering community views on an SA nuclear waste dump despite the state's opposition leader withdrawing his support for it.
Steven Marshall says he has returned from a trip to Finland, where he visited a nuclear waste dump under construction, and is sceptical of the economic benefits of such a project in SA.
He says a citizen jury's rejection of the proposal on Sunday shows the government also lacks the social consent needed to progress the idea.
"There is no groundswell of support for this project in South Australia," Mr Marshall told FiveAA radio on Friday.
"I just don't believe that having a high-level nuclear waste facility in 20 or 30 years time is going to transform our economy in South Australia and there are more pressing needs which we need to be focused on.
"That's my position and that's what I'll be putting in the party room."
Mr Weatherill has previously conceded that a nuclear waste dump would need bipartisan support in state parliament along with broad community consent.
But he said the government will stick with the procedure it has laid out and consider the views of more than 50,000 people who took part in a community consultation.
He said an advisory panel's findings, due soon, will also be considered before a decision is made on whether to progress with a dump.
"We will respect this process because at the heart of these questions are questions of trust," he told reporters on Friday.
"Trust is built by sticking to the process you laid down and we certainly intend to do that."
A group of conservationists and Aboriginal community representatives will present Mr Weatherill with a petition on Friday with more than 35,000 signatures calling on him to end any plans for the dump.
Conservation SA chief executive Craig Wilkins said opposition to the dump was rapidly growing.
"Premier Weatherill should drop this idea, which would leave Australian people with an unwelcome toxic legacy for hundreds of thousands of years," he said.
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