Government plans another nuclear dump

With a federal election looming, and in the wake of a defeat 
in court at the hands of the South Australian Government and 
Indigenous communities, the Howard Government has withdrawn 
proposals to build a nuclear waste dump in the South Australian 
outback.

But now it has other plans.

With the spitefulness he typically shows when thwarted, Prime 
Minister Howard declared that the Federal Government would 
establish a waste dump on Commonwealth-controlled land. This dump 
would not now be shared with the states, which will have to build 
their own facilities.

The Commonwealth is by far the biggest producer of nuclear waste, 
accounting for some 90 percent of the total generated within 
Australia. This includes the most hazardous nuclear waste, almost 
all of which comes from the Australian Nuclear Science and 
Technology Organisation's reactor at Lucas Heights in Sydney.

The government is determined to proceed with replacement of the 
ageing Lucas Heights facility, which means that there will be a 
continuing — and growing — problem with the disposal of 
radioactive waste.

Mainland sites such as within its naval base at Jervis Bay or 
even at the nuclear reactor site at Lucas Heights would be 
extremely unpopular in electoral terms.

The state premiers have also expressed a united opposition to 
locating it anywhere within their respective territories.

One alternative would be to construct the Commonwealth facility 
on an uninhabited island such as Ashmore or Cartier Islands to 
Australia's north. This would overcome some mainlander 
opposition, but would involve an infrastructure that would be 
expensive to build and maintain. The decision to establish such a 
facility would also pose a serious risk of the facility not being 
subject to proper scrutiny.

Another alternative, and one that has not yet been aired in the 
mass media, might be to dump "first world" Australia's nuclear 
waste on islands belonging to tiny poverty-stricken Pacific 
nations. This, after all, was the terrible "solution" adopted by 
the Howard Government for the detention of asylum-seekers a few 
years ago, after all the French and the US did not hesitate to 
use Pacific islands as testing grounds for nuclear weapons.

Radioactive material poses a significant (and in many cases long-
lasting) hazard to human life. The question of safe disposal of 
radioactive waste bedevils governments around the world. Even 
short-lived intermediate-level waste has a minimum half-life of 
almost 30 years, which means that it will continue to emit 
radioactivity above a normal background level for a hundred years 
or more. Some high-level wastes will take more than 100,000 years 
to degrade sufficiently not to pose a serious hazard. 

During these periods any facility used to store such waste would 
require monitoring to ensure there were no ruptures of 
containment vessels, which could have disastrous consequences 
such as contamination of subterranean aquifers.

Lucas Heights

The establishment and maintenance of nuclear facilities therefore 
requires extremely careful consideration.

So why has the Howard Government clung so tenaciously to the 
replacement of the Lucas Heights reactor, which is far and away 
the biggest source of nuclear waste in Australia?

Some people (the government included) say it is because of the 
value of radioactive isotopes for medical purposes. However, 
these could be purchased from other countries.

A far more credible explanation lies in the long-held dream of 
Australia's cold war warriors, i.e. the arming of the nation with 
nuclear weapons, for which the development of nuclear technology 
is a necessary prerequisite.

At Jervis Bay a series of decaying concrete structures (the 
remnants of a would-be post war nuclear power plant) bear mute 
testimony to the dream of one such warrior, former Prime Minister 
Robert Gordon Menzies. He is a hero of the present Prime 
Minister, who undoubtedly holds many of the views of the late PM.

The decision of the Howard Government not to proceed with 
establishing a joint Commonwealth-state nuclear dump does not 
arise from any consideration of the well being of the Australian 
people. It's undoubtedly due to a combination of short-term 
electoral expediency and long-term considerations such as use of 
nuclear technology for military purposes.

But if the Howard Government thinks it can get away with its 
latest idea of locating a nuclear waste dump on some remote 
uninhabited island territory, it should think again. The Maritime 
Union of Australia has announced its opposition to such a move 
unless the government completes the most rigorous studies into 
the safety of the proposed dumpsite and of the means of 
transportation of the material.

Pacific nations are also expected to announce their opposition to 
the use of such a facility in heir vicinity. The 12-nation South 
Pacific Forum has already campaigned strongly for more stringent 
navigations rules for shipping carrying nuclear waste. The Howard 
Government's move would be seen as directly contravening the 
Forum's wishes.

Perhaps the Howard Government should seriously examine the 
possibility of replacing their nuclear capability with other 
forms of industrial development which are more benign and which 
do not have the potential for military aggression.