Majority say NO nuke dump

by Bob Briton

One of the worst kept secrets in Australia's recent history was finally 
made public last week. Site 40a — a working sheep station near Woomera in 
South Australia — has been chosen as the location for the national low-
level radioactive waste dump.

The previously favoured Site 52a was ruled out at a late stage because of 
safety risks arising from the military's nearby Range E missile target 
area. Site 45a was another of the short listed locations. It was unsuitable 
because mining transnational WMC Resources owns the property in question 
and doesn't want a nuclear dump on its land — end of story.

Leean and Andrew Pobke, on the other hand, hold no hope of preventing the 
compulsory acquisition of land on their Arcoona station by the 
Commonwealth. Section 51 of the Constitution and the Lands Acquisition Act 
allow the Federal Government to take over property on what are called "just 
terms".

Finance and Administration Minister Nick Minchin and Science Minister Peter 
McGauran have gone to considerable lengths to sell the decision as a 
compromise. McGauran has given an undertaking that SA will not be expected 
to host the other proposed national dump for intermediate or high level 
waste.

Democrats MLA Sandra Kanck spoke for the overwhelming majority of South 
Australians last week when she dismissed this promise as a device for 
easing in this first stage of the Federal Government's plans.

For its part, the Rann Labor Government is sounding very Churchillean about 
fighting the decision on a number of fronts. The SA Government is expected 
to mount a legal challenge to the compulsory acquisition of the land and 
the granting of a licence to operate the dump.

Several native title claims will have to be overridden for the Commonwealth 
to press ahead with its plans and unions affiliated to the United Trades 
and Labor Council will refuse to work on or provide services to any dump 
project.

In spite of all these obstacles — and polls showing the opposition of 72 
percent of South Australians — the Commonwealth is sounding upbeat. 
Senator Minchin maintains that the dump will not damage the State's image 
as a clean, green wine producer and points to the presence of a nuclear 
dump in France's Champagne district in defence of his argument. Apparently, 
the dump at Centre de L'Aube has even become something of a tourist 
attraction.

Catherine Hockley couldn't resist making the following suggestion to 
tourists making their way to outback South Australia in a recent column in 
The Advertiser:

"Visit the Barossa Valley, drop in on the Eden and Clare Valleys, then head 
up the Stuart Highway towards Woomera, en route to the nation's first 
radioactive waste dump. Why not detour to Port Augusta to check out Baxter 
Detention Centre while you're there, and drop off for some pics for 
posterity of the mothballed Woomera centre. Then pop across to the 
Maralinga lands to see the legacy of British atomic testing."

Catherine went as far as to suggest a new slogan for the State: "Forget the 
Festival State. Our new slogan? South Australia — what a waste."

Legacy of atomic tests

The consequences of the British atomic weapons tests in the 1950s and 1960s 
are again to the fore, and such bitter experiences have had a profound 
effect on the opposition of South Australians to the dump.

This includes the high number of stillbirths and other premature deaths of 
children in Woomera in the years in question and the horrendous health 
problems of generations of some of the families of Australian servicemen 
from among the 17,000 who worked on the tests.

Some 1200 South Australians have received counselling during the last 12 
months about the taking of bones from dead stillborn babies, infants, 
toddlers and teenagers by Federal authorities right up to the 1970s. 
Australia-wide, some 21,830 bodies had bones removed — mostly without the 
consent of the parents.

The remains were then tested in Commonwealth facilities in Melbourne for 
the presence of strontium 90 and other residues of the atomic tests. 
Families are now being contacted to see if they would like to receive the 
little plastic bottles containing the ashes of the stolen remains.

There are also the fears that the Indigenous Advisory Committee to the 
Federal Environment Minister have about the possible exclusion of the 
Kokatha people from the land being sought for the dump.

In an address by Mike Rann to the Maralinga Tjarutja community at Oak 
Valley the Premier said that, before land used for the British atomic tests 
is handed back to its owners, the Commonwealth must be forced to accept 
financial liability for problems that might arise from any shortcomings in 
their "cleanup" of the area.