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Scientists
Volume 7, Wednesday May 26, 2010
visit school
New
ambulance for Roxby
Eyre
Page 3
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Pages 12 and 13
Peninsula on show
Radioactive Exposure Tour at Olympic Dam “Our aim is to be open and transparent, and educate the visitors on how Olympic Dam operates and the standards, processes and procedures we have in place to ensure the safety of all workers, and minimise our impact to the environment.” By Celeste Lustosa
T
he Friends of the Earth conducted of Information Act. their annual Radioactive Exposure BHP Billiton recognises that Friends of the Tour from May 14 to 23. As part of Earth has an interest in Olympic Dam. this event, they were in the Roxby Downs “Every year we work with them to provide / Olympic Dam area from Sunday, May a tour of our surface operations. “They are given a bus tour through the proc16. Since the 1980s, these tours have exposed thousands of people first-hand to the realities of ‘radioactive racism’ and to the environmental impacts of the nuclear industry. After travelling from Melbourne to Adelaide then heading north to the SA desert, they visited BHP Billiton’s Olympic Dam uranium mine at Roxby Downs, the largest uranium deposit in the world. Friends of the Earth is currently working on a campaign to have the SA Roxby Downs Indenture Act repealed. This legislation allows the mine to operate with wide-ranging exemptions from the Aboriginal Heritage Protection Act, the Environment Protection Act, the Natural Resources Act and the Freedom
ess plant, with commentary from relevant radiation and environmental specialists,” commented BHP Billiton in a statement to The Monitor. They also added, “Our aim is to be open and transparent, and educate the visitors on how Olympic Dam operates and the standards, processes and procedures we have in place to ensure the safety of all workers, and minimise our impact to the environment.” The usual level of security (lease gate staffed and all vehicles stopped to show access passes) was maintained during this time. Madeline Hudson, anti-nuclear campaign co-ordinator at Friends of the Earth, told The Monitor that they were grateful to Kokatha
Traditional Owners for welcoming the group onto their land and to BHP Billiton for taking us on a tour of the mine. “Sadly there seems to be no willingness on BHP’s part to seriously consider the option of expanding copper, gold and silver mining at Olympic Dam and to cease uranium mining. This is an option which would allow for ongoing, profitable mining while addressing at least some of the major problems,” Mrs Hudson said. She also added that “if BHP Billiton gets its way, its uranium exports will produce 28.5 tonnes of plutonium each year in power reactors around the world - enough for 2,850 nuclear weapons each year. Safeguarding this plutonium is a near-impossible task. “The International Atomic Energy Agency has admitted that their rights of inspection are ‘fairly limited’ and that it operates on a ‘shoestring budget’. BHP’s claim that safeguards will ‘ensure’ peaceful use of its uranium exports is dishonest and irresponsible.”
According to Mrs Hudson there are huge concerns over BHP Billiton’s capacity to safely manage the ever-growing radioactive tailings stockpile. “There are constant problems with tailings such as ongoing seepage and large numbers of bird deaths. Yet BHP wants to increase tailings production seven-fold to 68 million tonnes annually. “Last year, when a whistleblower released photos of leaks in the tailings dam at Olympic Dam, the company’s response was to threaten ‘disciplinary action’ against any workers taking photos of the mine site. “If the mine expansion proceeds, it is imperative that the legal privileges of the Roxby Downs Indenture Act are repealed including the exemptions from the SA Environmental Protection Act 1993, SA Aboriginal Heritage Act 1988, Freedom of Information Act 1991 and Natural Resources Act 2004,” Mrs Hudson concluded.