Drinking uranium

Workers who recently drank water containing uranium while on a 
break at the Ranger uranium mine in Kakadu have spoken out about 
the behaviour of mine owners Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) 
— a subsidiary of British mining giant Rio Tinto. The men were 
in the mine's powerhouse at the time and had previously noticed 
the poor quality of the shower water. Still, they had no reason 
to believe that they had just drunk water containing 400 times 
the legal limit of uranium!

A few of the 11 workers affected have taken their story to The 
Sydney Morning Herald and exposed the shabby way that ERA 
dealt with the dangerous incident. When company representatives 
told workers that the mine would be closing down because of a 
water leak, no mention was made of the contaminated drinking 
water. The first mine worker Paul McDonald heard of the threat to 
his health was a report in the press the following day.

ERA initially refused to pay for flights for the men to get 
medical treatment. However, the most damning aspect of the 
disaster in the eyes of the workers is that it appears that ERA 
knew of the contamination BEFORE they took the regrettable drink:

"There's no doubt they knew about the contamination when we drank 
the water. We know that because ice machines had been emptied 
because we had been told they had been contaminated. But nobody 
told us the water had been contaminated before we drank from a 
fountain inside the powerhouse", Mr McDonald told the 
Herald.

It has been estimated that some 150,000 litres of contaminated 
water was released after this latest glitch that ERA now 
acknowledges occurred at 10.30 pm on March 23. The contaminated 
water flowed from the mine site to a header tank near the 
township of Jabiru. From there it found its way to Majella Creek, 
whose water is used for drinking by the local Mirrar Aboriginal 
people, the traditional owners of Kakadu.

Although they denied any serious consequences from the latest 
accident, ERA flew their top medical officer, an expert in 
toxicology, from London to the mine site.

Mine management has sought to reassure its workers and the Mirrar 
people that their normal sources of drinking water are now safe. 
However, the Mirrar people are wary of such assurances, having 
borne the brunt of past accidents at Ranger and its associated 
site at Jabiluka, whose establishment and operation they 
consistently opposed.

Last week, the chief Executive of the Northern Land Council, 
Norman Fry, angrily denounced ERA's failure to adopt adequate 
risk management practices at the Ranger site.

He commented: "What will it take before this company realises 
that mining uranium is not something that can be done on a whim 
and a prayer? I find it deeply disappointing that, despite 
numerous mine site incidents over the years, numerous inquiries 
and numerous pledges to reform the way business is conducted at 
Ranger, these problems still keep recurring."

The former mine at Jabiluka, which was located within the Kakadu 
National Park, has now been closed, after a long struggle by the 
Mirrar people, conservationists and concerned citizens.

Government officials responsible for monitoring the safe 
operation of the Ranger mine have claimed that no damage has been 
caused to the park by mining operations. However, the mine has a 
long record of accidental discharges over its 20-year history.

The Australian Democrats Nuclear spokesperson Senator Lyn Allison 
stated "Last year a Senate committee found that serious 
complaints by a whistleblower regarding environmental management 
were not properly investigated, and the Committee recommended an 
independent investigation.

"It beggars belief that out of 180 incidents there has been no 
environmental damage caused, as claimed by ERA. This latest 
incident vindicates the Senate Committee's findings and raises 
questions about why the [Howard] Government has refused to take 
action to address these issues."

ERA recently entered into an environmental accreditation 
agreement. The recent incidents do not bode well for the 
agreement. The next accreditation inspection is due in June.

Meanwhile, the mine has re-opened after a short break. The 
processing mill remains closed. The workers who drank the uranium 
water are left to worry about their health. Their initial 
symptoms were severe: diarrhoea, headaches, lethargy, sore 
throats and vomiting. Doctors are unable to reassure patients who 
have drunk such quantities of toxic water. Paul McDonald put it 
this way:

"I have put aside any thought of compensation. My main concern is 
my health. One doctor told me that obviously my kidneys would be 
affected. We are not cowboys. We have a brain and we know this is 
serious."