Residents have expressed the anger of many rural communities over plans for a nuclear waste dump.

A fiery public meeting in Hawker in the Flinders Ranges over the weekend saw locals raise issues about the proposed radioactive waste facility site at the nearby Wallerberdina station.

The Wallerberdina station near Barndioota is co-owned by former Liberal Party president Grant Chapman.

It was recently announced as the Government's preferred site, and locals said they fear the project site is a foregone conclusion.

About a third of the 300-strong local population turned out for the meeting, unleashing a barrage of opposing views against the dump.

Traditional owners joined with farmers and other landholders to speak out about the potential risks, damage to important sites, and lack of consultation.

Local mayor Peter Slattery said in his opening address at the meeting that it was “not a soapbox forum”, but he could not stop the rapid stream of angry interjections from the floor.

“It's a last link in the area where the footsteps of our ancestors were,” Adnyamathanha elder Tony Clarke said.

“They walked this land, they lived in this land, they hunted in this land and they died in this land.”

Adnyamathanha elder Enice Marsh said cultural importance had been brushed aside.

“The dreamtime that runs through [the area] is very strong. It's alive and well,” she said.

“That story belongs to my people and me.”

Department of Industry, Innovation and Science spokesperson Bruce Wilson was about the level of community support needed to proceed.

“There is no magic number,” he told the meeting.

“In making a decision to take it forward into this phase, the Minister accepted there was a broad support in this community.

“The community survey indicated 65 per cent. Now I would think the Minister needed at least that, if not more, for a final siting decision.”

The department is recruiting locals for a community committee to be based at an outpost it is setting up in Hawker.

The authorities say they will conduct an independent Aboriginal heritage survey as well.

Even if the facility does not go ahead, the community will receive $2 million from the Federal Government as compensation.

More recommendations from South Australia's separate Royal Commission into the Nuclear Fuel Cycle could add more detail to the debate when they emerge in coming days.