The federal government is being asked to come clean on plans for a nuclear waste dump in the Northern Territory, after it voted down a motion to scrap federal powers to force the issue. 

Earlier this week, the government scuttled a bill in the Senate calling for the repeal of the Commonwealth Radioactive Waste Management Act (CRWMA). 

The Howard government passed the law in 2006, giving the federal government the power to impose a nuclear waste dump on the Northern Territory. 

The move outraged the NT government, indigenous land owners and green groups, and Labor promised to scrap the laws. 

But, after almost 16 months in office, the Rudd government has yet to act. 

Natalie Wasley, from the Beyond Nuclear Initiative, on Friday said it was time for Labor to "come clean". 

"It was an election commitment to repeal this legislation, yet the government is blatantly flouting its commitments and ignoring deep community concern," she said. 

"The vote shows clear disrespect for the communities targeted for the radioactive dump, who been waiting over a year for the government to come good on its promise." 

Last December, a Senate committee recommended the controversial legislation be scrapped and replaced with better laws, finding they were unfair and discriminatory. 

The committee said the laws should be replaced with new legislation to address the ongoing problem of nuclear waste, should emphasise voluntary engagement rather than coercion, and should be grounded in sound science. 

Mitch, an Arrernte woman who has family living near the proposed Harts Range site, said it was not the first time the government had missed a chance to make good on its promise. 

"The government thinks the NT communities, the Greens and the average Australian citizen will be treated as ignorant puppets," she said in a statement released by the Beyond Nuclear Initiative. 

"The Australian community will not allow this government to increase uranium mining or have a waste dump forced on communities on this continent because it is morally, ethically and scientifically wrong." 

The coalition short-listed Harts Range, Fishers Ridge and Mount Everard as possible sites for a dump. 

Muckaty Station, about 120km north of Tennant Creek, was later controversially nominated as a possible site by the Northern Land Council. 

The Country Liberals later said the government's actions were "rank hypocrisy". 

"We now know all Labor's histrionics about the establishing a nuclear waste facility in the territory were no more than a charade," said Opposition Leader Terry Mills. 

"Labor's radioactive deception will glow well into the future." 

Mr Mills said Labor had made "a great play" of opposing the dump ahead of the federal election. 

"Is that a deafening silence I hear now that federal Labor has reneged on its election commitment?" he said.