Antinuclear

Adelaide residents blindsided by decision to store AUKUS nuclear waste at submarine shipyards

By Angelique Donnellan 7.30 ABC

In short:

Federal parliament has passed legislation that allows for nuclear waste to be stored and disposed of at a shipping yard in Adelaide.

Residents said they were not consulted or told of the plan.

What’s next?

Construction of nuclear submarines is expected to start in Adelaide by the end of the decade.

The $368 billion AUKUS pact is promising thousands of jobs and the return of submarine construction to South Australia.

But residents have just learned the deal also means nuclear waste will be stored on their doorstep.

“It’s madness. It’s not only close to a residential area, but it’s right on a waterway,” Adelaide resident Eileen Darley told 7.30.

Last month legislation quietly passed the federal parliament that will allow for the storage and disposal of nuclear waste at the Adelaide shipyard in Osborne, which is 25 kilometres north-west of the city’s CBD and near the popular seaside suburb of Semaphore and historic Port Adelaide.

Residents said it was the first time they heard about plans for the waste facility.

Nuclear submarine construction at Osborne is expected to start by the end of the decade.

“There’s 30,000 people that live in this area,” Ms Darley, who runs the local action group Port Adelaide Community Opposing AUKUS, said.

“All the childcare centres, all the schools and the families that live in this area, but also waterways that feed the mangroves, that is a dolphin sanctuary, and so forth.

“None of us in this area have been consulted about it at all.”

The Osborne shipyard is in federal Health Minister Mark Butler’s safe Labor electorate of Hindmarsh.

In an interview with 7.30, he said residents would be consulted closer to when the facility would be established but stated the waste facility would go ahead even if residents did not want it.

“This is going to happen,” he said.

“The government and parliament have decided that the future defence strategy of the country will involve nuclear-propelled submarines.”

Indigenous elder criticises government’s ‘sly and conniving’ moves

The state Labor government is in lock-step with the Commonwealth on AUKUS but community concerns are growing.

The Port Adelaide Enfield Council has resolved to oppose any nuclear waste storage or disposal at Osborne and is calling for widespread community engagement.

Local resident and Indigenous elder Margaret Brodie said she was disappointed the government legislated the facility without people having a say. The shipyard is on the traditional lands of the Kaurna people.

“It’s sly and conniving. That’s how I feel about it,” she told 7.30.

“As an Indigenous woman I think I get used to it, government being underhanded, not telling us anything, or not asking.

“If you talk about closing the gap, they’re not going to close the gap by doing things like this.”

The legislation declares the Osborne Shipyard as well as the HMAS Stirling naval base near Perth as designated naval nuclear propulsion facilities.

The act allows radioactive waste to be stored at both sites but does not define what level……………………………………………………………………………

Ms Darley was sceptical.

“It does not allay our concerns to hear that the government is saying that it’s temporary and it’s low level,” she said.

“We’re the people who are most affected if something goes wrong.”

The Naval Nuclear Power Safety Regulator, which reports to the defence minister, would grant the licence for the operation of the waste facilities.

Waste from UK and US subs

Greens senator David Shoebridge told 7.30 the legislation was also ambiguous about the disposal of nuclear material from UK and US nuclear submarines.

“One of the key amendments we wanted was to prohibit the storage of high-level nuclear waste from any foreign country, the United Kingdom or the United States, and that was aggressively resisted by both the government and the opposition,” he said.

“Neither the UK or the US have any permanent solution for their nuclear waste, and the UK is the one that’s in the most trouble … and they have seen with AUKUS a potential sucker down here in Australia who’s literally put their hand up and said, ‘Yeah, we’ll take some of that. We’ll help out.'”

There is also opposition to the waste facility at Perth’s naval base, which needs to be up and running as early as 2027 when one UK nuclear submarine and up to four US boats start regular rotations.

But Mr Butler stated it would also only hold low-level nuclear waste taken from UK or US submarines which came to Australia.

“Intermediate and high-level waste [from overseas] will not be stored in Australia,” he said.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. In South Australia, the Port Adelaide Community Opposing AUKUS said it was prepared for a fight ahead of next year’s federal election.

“How far are we prepared to go? Well, I think we’re in it for the long haul. That’s for sure,” Ms Darley said.

“We don’t want our children, our grandchildren, to have to deal with this in the long run.

“We’ll definitely be making this an election issue.”  https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-11-18/aukus-nuclear-waste-to-be-stored-adelaide-suburbs/104605640

November 18, 2024 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | South Australia, wastes