Antinuclear

New South Wales’ toxic radioactive waste by another name is still toxic radioactive waste

But the new plan involves reclassifying most of the contaminated earth as ”restricted solid waste”, allowing it to be trucked to Kemps Creek.

The Labor MP for Auburn, Barbara Perry, told Parliament in June that the move to reclassify the contaminated earth as restricted but non-hazardous was ”clever spin”.

Based on a series of tests by ANSTO, government and independent scientists, the detection of some hazardous radioactive material seems likely.

Uranium smelter’s legacy moves on, SMH December 16, 2012 Ben Cubby THE controversial clean-up of a radioactive site in Hunters Hill is set to begin early next year, with any hazardous waste to be moved from the harbourside suburb to Lidcombe, the NSW government says.

The contaminated properties in Nelson Parade – once the site of a uranium smelter – have been a thorn in the side of residents and governments for nearly a century.
After years of denials from successive governments about the extent of the contamination, the clean-up will now be extended to include suspected radioactive hot spots in neighbouring backyards and at the harbour foreshore.

The Premier, Barry O’Farrell, all but ruled out dumping the contaminated dirt at a Kemps Creek waste facility in western Sydney last year, in the face of protests from Penrith residents and councillors.

But the new plan involves reclassifying most of the contaminated earth as ”restricted solid waste”, allowing it to be trucked to Kemps Creek. Any material that is shown to be dangerously radioactive will
be taken to a secure storage facility in Lidcombe, operated by the
Office of Environment and Heritage……

But the decision to store
radioactive waste at Lidcombe is likely to draw further opposition
from community groups, who have gathered 13,000 signatures opposing
the proposal to shift the waste.
The Labor MP for Auburn, Barbara Perry, told Parliament in June that the move to reclassify the contaminated earth as restricted but non-hazardous was ”clever spin”.
Ms Perry described the Lidcombe facility as ”a storeroom that is the
size of a garage underneath the Office of Environment and Heritage
offices and is half-filled with domestic, not industrial, radioactive
waste, such as old compasses and watches”.
The state government should negotiate with the federal government to
store any radioactive waste at Lucas Heights or the Olympic Dam
uranium mine site in South Australia, she said…….
Based on a series of tests by ANSTO, government and independent scientists, the detection of some hazardous radioactive material seems likely.
A 2008 inquiry into the site found ”significantly elevated
concentrations of radionuclides at the site, some at hazardous
levels”.  http://www.smh.com.au/environment/uranium-smelters-legacy-moves-on-20121215-2bgb3.html#ixzz2FLBXGYtN

December 17, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | New South Wales, spinbuster