Antinuclear

Maralinga atomic test site unsafe, aborigines affected

Coober Pedy Regional Times Maralinga Anniversary October 15, 1953 – 1967 and nuclear veteran’s website is closed down. “…………..October 15 is the anniversary of the first nuclear test at Maralinga, Totem 1.– the beginning of atomic testing in Australia 1953 – 1967, and the contamination of traditional  Kokatha Lands in the Western Desert of South Australia. The Action Australia page on the ANVAR website contained the details.

Both Totem Bombs were mounted on towers for detonation. Totem 1 (10kt) was exploded at 07.00 on 15 October and Totem 2 (8kt) was exploded 07.00 on 27 October 1953.

A series of kittens tests designed to evaluate initiator devices also took place during the Emu trials. [Note a kitten is an explosion where a charge (e.g. TNT) is used to detonate the warhead. As such this is not defined as a nuclear weapon despite the atmospheric release of radioactive particles.]

Unexpected contamination of air sampling aircraft occurred after the Totem 1 explosion. Also atmospheric stillness meant that the cloud did not disperse, and it retained its shape for over 24 hours after the blast…………fallout was experienced across the mainland. A radioactive black mist from Totem 1 significantly contaminated the areas of Wallatinna and Welbourn Hill. This resulted in the exposure of at least 45 Aboriginal people, who experienced commonly recognised symptoms of radiation sickness, and estimated excessive exposures to radiation. Deaths were reported, but due to the Pitjanjarra tribal rules surrounding speaking about the dead, no estimate could be ascertained.

The Royal Commission concluded that it did not have sufficient evidence that the radiation caused the illnesses described by the residents of Wallatinna and Welbourn Hill. This was in spite of the reports of 50 eye-witnesses, the known meteorological conditions associated with the test, the known cloud dispersal pattern, and independent scientific cloud modeling that demonstrated that it was certain that the test conditions produced the black mist.

Similar back mist and rain events were noted at both Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

At the One Tree test site, the scene of the first atomic bomb exploded at Maralinga, scientists have recorded the highest residual radioactivity level of any of the blast sites. It will be unsafe for human occupation well into the next century.

At Taranaki, scene of the balloon-burst, twenty-one burial pits contain over 800 tons of contaminated material, including plutonium.

At the test sites code-named TM 100 and 101, the experiments carried out in the minor trials left some twenty kilo of plutonium scattered over the surrounding area, and evidence of minute particles of plutonium on the surface of the ground are still picked up on the detection devices used by survey teams.

The Australian Radiation Laboratory has declared that the British attempts at cleaning up after the tests were inadequate. The clean-up operation, code-named Brumby, was carried out by a team of royal Engineers and scientists from AWRE in 1967. Before that date, the plutonium was left where it had been scattered. During Brumby it was ploughed back into the earth, under 10 centimetres of topsoil. http://cooberpedyregionaltimes.wordpress.com/2009/10/15/nuclear-veterans-disappointed-as-their-website-is-closed-down/

October 16, 2009 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | South Australia, uranium, weapons and war | aboriginal, antinuclear, Australia, indigenous, Maralinga, nuclear, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons, radioactive, South Australia, uranium