Civil liberties trampled in Australia’s nuclear issues, and ANSTO’s secrecy
Federal resources minister Martin Ferguson plans to put the National Radioactive Waste Management Bill before Parliament this week….Mr Ferguson persists with the fiction that Traditional Owners support the dump…… He has also said that he will consult Traditional Owners after a decision has been made on the proposed Muckaty dump − a thorough reworking of the traditional concept of consultation.
Blowing the whistle on Australia’s nuclear industry, Jim Green, 12 Feb 2011, It’s a sad truth that whistleblowers have provided the public with more information about accidents at the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor site on Sydney’s outskirts than the site’s operator − the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO).− ever has.
This pattern has been repeated yet again with revelations on ABC’s Lateline
on Tuesday. A secret report by Comcare, the government’s workplace safety
watchdog, finds that ANSTO has under-reported accidents, breached safety
standards, and breached health and safety laws.
The Comcare report was produced in response to revelations last year by
ANSTO whistleblower David Reid. The report finds that ANSTO did not take all
reasonable steps to maintain a safe working environment; failed to take all
reasonable steps to train and supervise ANSTO Health employees; failed to
comprehensively risk assess its radiopharmaceutical production process;
failed to notify Comcare of safety incidents; and that ANSTO’s suspension of
David Reid was “extreme” and that he was denied procedural fairness.
You’d hope that the government would step in to redress the problems at
Lucas Heights and to do so with some urgency. No such luck. The government has asked for a “review” of the Comcare report. If that review finds it’s way into the public arena it will most likely be thanks to a whistleblower. If the review doesn’t produce the answers the government wants to hear, further reviews will be commissioned until the government gets the whitewash it wants. Politics 101.
These problems have obvious relevance for ANSTO workers and for the
residents of surrounding suburbs, but they also have national significance.
ANSTO is actively promoting the development of nuclear power in Australia
although the organisation has demonstrably failed to competently and safely
run a much smaller nuclear research facility.
More immediately, ANSTO is up to its neck in the plan to establish a
national nuclear waste repository in the Northern Territory, both as the
main source of the waste and as the operator of the repository (if it
proceeds).
Federal resources minister Martin Ferguson plans to put the National
Radioactive Waste Management Bill before Parliament this week. Mussolini
would blush. The Bill gives Mr Ferguson the power to override all
state/territory laws that could in any way impede his dump plan and to
override almost all Commonwealth laws. Public health laws, occupational
heath and safety regulations, road safety laws − all subject to Ministerial
whim.
Mr Ferguson claims that the Traditional Owners for the proposed dump site at Muckaty, 120 kms north of Tennant Creek, support the proposal. In truth,
some do, but many do not. Letters of protest and petitions from Muckaty
Traditional Owners have been ignored. Muckaty Traditional Owners have
initiated legal action in the Federal Court challenging the nomination of
the site, yet Mr Ferguson persists with the fiction that Traditional Owners
support the dump.
Mr Ferguson has refused repeated requests from concerned Traditional Owners
to meet with them. His latest excuse for ignoring them is that the matter is
subject to legal action. He has also said that he will consult Traditional
Owners after a decision has been made on the proposed Muckaty dump − a
thorough reworking of the traditional concept of consultation.
Mr Ferguson says he will “respect” the Federal Court’s decision but in fact
he is pre-empting it by pushing forward with legislation which entrenches
Muckaty as the only site under active consideration for a national
repository.
The Labor Party promised to address radioactive waste management issues in a
manner which is “scientific, transparent, accountable, fair and allows
access to appeal mechanisms” and to “ensure full community consultation in
radioactive waste decision-making processes”. Every one of those promises
has been broken by Martin Ferguson and his Waste Management Bill. The Bill
is very similar to Howard-era legislation which Labor slammed as being
“sordid” and “draconian”.
The government needs to demonstrate a capacity to safely and responsibly
manage the Lucas Heights research reactor and the waste it produces before
trying to sell us on the idea of a nuclear power industry. Nuclear power
reactors produce vastly more waste than ANSTO’s research reactor.
Ziggy Switkowski, who was until recently the Chair of the ANSTO Board, has
been promoting the construction of 50 power reactors in Australia. Over a 50
year lifespan, 50 reactors would be responsible for 1.8 billion tonnes of
radioactive tailings waste at uranium mines. The reactors would be
responsible for a further 430,000 tonnes of depleted uranium waste, a
by-product of the uranium enrichment process (which would most likely take
place overseas). The reactors would directly produce 75,000 tonnes of
high-level nuclear waste and 750,000 cubic metres of low-level and
intermediate-level waste.
Dr Jim Green is coordinator of the Choose Nuclear Free project, a
collaboration between the Medical Association for Prevention of War, the
International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons and Friends of the Earth,
Australia. www.choosenuclearfree.net
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