Ranger uranium mine: greying, fraying and needing more review than its getting
13 Dec 13, ACF has called for a widening of the scope of the planned review into safety at Energy Resources of Australia’s Ranger uranium mine in Kakadu following last weekend’s equipment failure and spill of a million litres of highly acidic uranium slurry.
Today the federal and NT Mines Ministers have outlined the terms of reference for a joint investigation but many questions remain unclear, including:
· Details on the ‘independent expert’ who has the key role to ‘review the broader integrity of the processing plant’
- · How stakeholders including environmental NGO’s and trade unions will engage with this process and whether there will be a public hearing and submission process
- · Whether operations at Ranger mine will remain halted pending the outcome plant integrity assessment
- · How the adequacy of the remediation and clean up works and related OHS response will be assessed
- · The extent of dependence of company supplied – as opposed to independently obtained – data and monitoring results
“This review plan still puts the existing regulatory agencies in the driving seat, despite the fact that they have been asleep at the wheel for far too long,” said ACF campaigner Dave Sweeney.
“The plan is a step towards lifting the curtain of complacency that has characterised operations at Ranger, but it is not enough. It is heavy on company data and light on community input.
Speaking on ABC radio on Tuesday federal Minister Ian Macfarlane stated: ‘what we need to do is just have a process where the facts can be laid on the table’. ACF agrees. It’s called an independent public inquiry”.
ACF has welcomed fact that the Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation, representing the Mirarr Traditional Owners, will be invited to join the review – this should clearly be standard practise.
In a statement issued yesterday GAC described that the “Mirarr are worried sick about the safety of people, the land and the future of this World Heritage park – meanwhile ERA is worrying about getting roads cleared and getting this aging and incident-riddled mine site back to processing”.
The Mirarr have called for an independent audit of the plant and facility – a call echoed by national and NT environment, Indigenous and public health groups and affected trade unions.
Following Fukushima – a continuing nuclear crisis directly fuelled by Australian uranium – the UN Secretary General asked Australia to conduct an in-depth assessment of the impact of uranium mining on local communities and ecosystems.
The most recent independent assessment of the Australian uranium industry – a Senate inquiry in 2003 – found the sector characterised by underperformance and non-compliance, an absence of reliable data to measure contamination or its impact on the environment and an operational culture focussed on short term considerations.
“Minister Macfarlane has the ability and responsibility to do better than one more yellowcake whitewash,” said Dave Sweeney.
“A full and open review of the suite of impacts from the Ranger operation and a genuine cost-benefit analysis of Australia’s troubled and troubling uranium trade is long overdue”.
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