This decade we've witnessed a total disregard for public safety by governments in the areas of lead, hazardous waste, mercury, alumina, atomic waste, uranium mining and resource "recovery." These industries continue to contaminate this fragile biodiversity with impunity.

1. 2005: “Australian uranium mining company Energy Resources Australia has been fined AUS$150,000 after being found guilty of a series of contamination breaches at its Ranger mine.

Two of the charges relate to incidents concerning the connection of the drinking water systems with the process water systems used during uranium extraction - at the Ranger uranium processing plant in March 2004. Another relates to contaminated vehicles leaving the site.

Twenty-eight workers fell ill after drinking and showering in water contaminated with FOUR HUNDRED TIMES the legal limit of uranium.

Symptoms included vomiting, headaches and skin rashes. A total of 159 workers were exposed to the contamination.

In separate incidents, three works vehicles left the site contaminated with uranium ore. The company has been ordered to pay the prosecution costs of the case, AUS$25,000, in addition to the fine.

http://www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?id=10034

2. 2007: “Secrets in the Sand – Coverup at Maralinga”

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/ockhamsrazor/stories/2007/2019647.htm

http://www.anthonyalbanese.com.au/file.php?file=/news/WRIAZQAESKMBBMOWFYZNGCAW/index.html

3. "The British Nuclear Tests – Was the test policy indifferent to human suffering” (Robert William Varney - Bachelor of Technology- University of Adelaide)

http://www.pariahnt.org/pages/Bob_Varney_Thesis-Ch10.htm

4. 2009: Olympic Dam: “(Scientists and Doctors) have written to the State Government warning that up to 5.5 million tonnes of toxic waste in dams with an area of 4000ha will reach ground water within 150 years and dust storms could blow thousands of tonnes from the 242 million tonnes of waste into the atmosphere and all over the state for hundreds of years”

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,25943922-2682,00.html

That’s it Shadow Minister – Your “lies, damned lies” and greenwashing of the atom is tiresome and fatuous. I daresay the people of this nation would agree.

Little Johnny made the same blunder didn’t he when he talked up the “Uranium Mining, Processing and Nuclear Energy” publication released prior to an election - "Trust me citizens of Australia - there's no *IMMEDIATE* danger!"

Dearie me, that’s when he had the meltdown!

Let’s face it Protagoras, Shadow Minister has you done and dusted. You are firing blanks from a scatter gun, a person who has hit rock bottom, and started digging.

What amazes me is your dogged persistence and total lack of embarrassment.

Protagoras,

As spindoc says, your scatter gun approach of pulling up mining accidents (of which I notice no fatalities) is purely to draw attention from the safety record of mining.

http://www.minerals.org.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0013/6223/e-mis_2004.pdf
http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/5204.0Main%20Features502007-08?opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=5204.0&issue=2007-08&num=&view=
http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/145E222CF0CADBC0CA257410000FC26C?opendocument

Industry, mining, construction and transport provides about 37% of GDP of which nearly one quarter comes from mining.

In this group there are more than 200 fatalities annually of which roughly 5% come from mining, and roughly 0.5% from uranium mining. None of which appear to be linked to radiation.

Considering the more than 5000 accidental deaths in Australia p.a. it would appear that it is safer to be working on a uranium mine than most other day to day activities.

As for the particles, with one exception of thousands studied, were insoluble and of low activity, so the particles if ingested (inhalation was considered extremely unlikely) would pass straight through the gut within 24hrs with negligible exposure. The study I supplied estimates this probability as less than 1/million per annum for lobster pot workers eating scavenger seafood.

Your link to SEPA is broken and I could not find the report to which you refered, however I did find from SEPA:

"This fuel fragment would be classified as "minor" according to the DPAG categorisation and does not present a significant hazard to the public"

http://www.sepa.org.uk/about_us/news/2009/particle_found_at_site_of_prop.aspx

A news article that several medical doctors and scientists have signed a green petition against what the greens with their vast geological knowledge have predicted might happen in 150 years does not carry much credibility.

I also struggle to see what weapons testing in the 50s and 60s has to do with nuclear power?

Your chicken little approach is similar to those who oppose vaccines, where the 1 in a million chance of adverse reaction is blown out of proportion to the thousands of lives saved.

For every person that has ever died from nuke mining, generation or even weapons, dozens have been saved from the isotopes extracted from these reactors.

"Let’s face it Protagoras, Shadow Minister has you done and dusted. You are firing blanks from a scatter gun, a person who has hit rock bottom, and started digging."

Same dog - different haircut.

Here's how the French deal with some of their nuclear waste - another disaster waiting to happen.

If only weasel words could solve the world's problems - - the PR Spivs of the heavily government-subsidised French Nuclear Electricity Industry would bring us world peace in a week!

© Copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited 2009

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/6310714/EDF-sends-used-nuclear-material-to-Siberia.html

EDF 'sends used nuclear material' to Siberia

EDF, the French firm which owns eight of Britain's nuclear power stations has shipped hundreds of tons of used radioactive material to Russia.

By Henry Samuel in Paris
Published: 6:30AM BST 13 Oct 2009

More than 1,500 tons of spent fuel produced by the power company EDF was discovered in metal containers near a Siberian town.

The company claims that it recycles almost all of its fuel. Environmental experts have claimed that 13 per cent of the spent fuel from the company's French power plants is on the site and described it as "really dirty stuff".


The largely state-owned French utility has plans to build a further four reactors in Britain.

France's nuclear industry has long claimed that it produces only "clean" low-carbon energy at its nuclear plants as the fuel can be mostly reused.

However, according to nuclear experts cited by the Libération newspaper, thousands of tons of that fuel actually end up 5,000 miles away in Seversk, Siberia. They claimed that polluted, depleted uranium sits in an open-air "parking area" in metal containers and is visible from satellite images.

"No nuclear waste [is sent] to Russia," said a spokesman for [EDF]

"Only recyclable uranium, reprocessed from EDF's nuclear reactors, is sent to Russia to be enriched," he said. The company added that according to international "contracts relating to uranium", the depleted uranium was now the property of Russia, not France.

The French ecology ministry said there was "no desire to be secretive", saying it was simply an "industrial choice".

"France's dependency on Russia on this strategic subject is a real issue," a ministry spokesman added.

© Copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited 2009

Sir Vivor,

Considering the low level of radioactivity of reprocessed uranium, even with the 232, 234 and 236 isotope contaminants, and the low chemical reactivity of the metallic uranium, storage in lead lined metal containers is perfectly safe for the short time (few years) before re enrichment, as the most dangerous non uranium isotopes have already been removed, and the radioactivity is less than 0.01% of spent fuel rods.

Reprocessing and re enriching the uranium greatly reduces the volume and radio activity of spent fuel, and if implemented for all fuel will render the Yucca mountain and other storage sites largely redundant.

The technical article below should provide some illumination as to what is done and why, and the properties of the products.

http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/PDF/te_1529_web.pdf

As Russia has the largest re enrichment capabilities, this would seem a natural place to send it.

Once again the press has reacted in a knee jerk fashion to anything that has the label nuclear waste.