Darwin Council worried about uranium transport risk
Yellowcake cyclone impact concerns council
ABC News 18 August 09 By Gina MarichThe Darwin City Council says a new uranium storage and handling facility proposed for Darwin’s main port could pose a risk to the environment.
BHP Billiton is considering a facility at the East Arm Port to export up to 1.6 million tonnes of uranium oxide a year, once it expands its Olympic Dam mine in South Australia.
The Darwin Lord Mayor, Graeme Sawyer, says this poses a range of issues, including possible leakage during cyclones and tidal storm surges.
BHP have made some assurances that the stuff that they’re dealing with is not on the high end of the dangerous scale,” Mr Sawyer said.
“But we’d like some independent analysis of that and a range of assurances on some of it.
“There’s going to be some material on that site which needs to be very safely handled so there’s a whole range of issues.”
Yellowcake cyclone impact concerns council – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Growing concern over the safety of Olympic Dam Expansion
(more Australian news at nuclear news Australia )
Greens growing concern over the safety of Olympic Dam Expansion
MINING SAFETY5 August 2009GREENS MLC Mark Parnell says that BHP Billiton ‘s Olympic Dam Expansion Environmental Impact Statement contains glaring omissions alongside startling impacts.
Parnell claims that there are holes in this EIS almost as big as the mine’s open pit. For example, there is a woeful description on the 242 million tonne waste rock heap – a heap that will be so large it will be visible 30 kms away, soar higher than the Santos building and contain millions of tonnes of uranium and acid.
Parnell says the EIS is also silent on long term dust management. More than 25,000,000 litres of water will be sprayed around the site each and every day to prevent toxic dust storms, but what happens when the mining stops?
In many sections of there statement there are reportedly ‘options’ given – some sound, but expensive; others cheap and nasty. The huge concern is that the Federal and State Governments will approve the mine first, and leave it to the company to decide which options they pursue later.
Greens growing concern over the safety of Olympic Dam Expansion – Mining Safety
Nuclear reactors – targets for terrorism
by Christina Macpherson. 6 August 09
The following article mentions the previous terrorist plots aimed at Australia. These include the 2002 plan to attack the Lucas heights nuclear reactor. In the most recent event, a terrorsit plot is alleged to attack a miltary base that is close to the research nuclear reactor.
Nuclear reactors, even small “research” reactors, form attractive targets for terrorists. Any country would be safer without themThe Global War on Terror, Australia’s latest foiled attack is only one of many.
The Wall Street Journal AUGUST 5, 2009,
The Obama Administration may have erased the phrase “global war on terror” from the American political lexicon, but the threat remains very real to countries around the globe. For the latest reminder, look to Australia.
On Tuesday, authorities Down Under detained five suspects alleged to be plotting a suicide mission against a military base in the Sydney suburbs. In a press conference, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd claimed the men were linked to al Shabaab, a Somali terrorist group with ties to al Qaeda.
If true, that means that Australians are now dealing with a brand new African front to their war on terror. But like Washington, Canberra was already facing a global menace. In Indonesia in recent years, jihadists have killed 92 Australian tourists in two successive attacks in Bali, attacked the Australian embassy in Jakarta and killed three in a hotel bombing. The threat at home is equally grave. Since 2002, authorities have foiled plots to attack a nuclear facility, the national electricity grid and packed sporting events…………………………Australia may have foiled a big attack on Tuesday. But the global war on terror continues.
Lucas Heights nuclear reactor a target for latest terrorists
The Age, Britt SmithAugust 4, 2009 Holsworthy Barracks on Sydney’s outskirts, the alleged target of a suspected terrorist suicide attack, is home to thousands of troops and a major anti-terrorist unit………
….Its eastern boundary is near the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor…………………
Police say they foiled a mission by Islamic terrorists to launch a suicide shoot-out on Holsworthy in what they say would have been the worst-ever terrorist attack on Australian soil.
Australia’s poor record as a uranium mining nation
What is our record as a nation of Uranium miners?
ARCHIES ARCHIVE 24 July 09
Ranger:• despite being expected to operate under a “no-release” water management system, incidents involving misplaced low grade ores or failures in water control bunds have led on numerous occasions to contaminated runoff waters being leaked into adjacent creeks (especially Corridoor Creek, a tributary of Magela Creek).• in early 2004 incorrect plumbing saw the process water circuit being connected to the potable drinking water circuit – leading to rapid and significant toxic process water being mixed with drinking water, and much of the Ranger workforce being potentially exposed to both acute chemical and radiological exposure.Olympic Dam:• after operating for nearly a decade, a major ongoing leak from the tailings dam was revealed, amounting to the loss of billions of litres of tailings water to groundwater.• in March 1999, and again October 2001, major explosions and fires caused substantive damage to the mill and smelter complexes, including major releases of noxious fumes – though the extent of radiological releases remains highly contentious, the fact that the uranium solvent extraction circuit in the 2001 incident was on fire raises serious concerns about how these incidents are handled by current regulators.
Beverley:
• numerous spills and leaks from pipelines have occurred………………Can uranium mines be satisfactorily rehabilitated?
The experience of rehabilitating uranium mines to date in Australia is questionable. The first generation of uranium mines from the Cold War, namely Rum Jungle, Radium Hill, Mary Kathleen and the South Alligator group of mines, all still present environmental and radiological management problems and require constant vigilence and maintenance.
Examples include: – Rum Jungle –….mine drainage continues to pollute the Finniss River…… Radium Hill…………tailings requires ongoing maintenance…..Mary Kathleen………… ongoing seepage of saline, metal and radionuclide rich waters from the tailings dam
From a briefing paper by Gavin M. Mudd for <a
Uranium Mining and a National Park #2 « Ærchies Archive – The Curmudgeon’s Magazine
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of the week – Australians for War Powers Reform (AWPR)
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