BY JIM GREEN
ADELAIDE — Campaign Against Nuclear Dumping was launched on January 31 in opposition to the federal government's plan for a national radioactive waste dump near Woomera in the centre-north of South Australia.
The campaign will involve a range of protest activities as well as awareness-raising and a public debate. It was initiated by anti-nuclear and environmental campaigners in response to revelations from a government document leaked late last year that the federal government is planning a $300,000 propaganda campaign to convince South Australians to turn their state into the nation's nuclear dump.
The objections to the planned nuclear dump are many:
- radioactive waste is best managed at the point of production (thus avoiding risks of transportation, and encouraging minimisation of waste production);
- an overwhelming majority of South Australians oppose the dump (68-95% according to various polls), as does the state Labor government;
- the dump poses numerous risks, such as the possibility of missile or rocket strikes on the dump, and, according to the government, a 23% chance of a truck accident while moving the current national waste to SA;
- the government's claim that SA contains the "best and safest" site for the dump is not true and is flatly contradicted by the government's own literature; and
- the "low-level" waste dump may clear the way for long-lived intermediate-level wastes, including wastes arising from reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel rods from the nuclear research reactor at Lucas Heights in Sydney.
A supplement to last year's environmental impact statement was publicly released on January 23 by science minister Peter McGauran. It was completed a month earlier but kept secret from the public. The draft EIS and the supplement were written by a proponent of the project — the federal government's department of education, science and training — and both give glowing endorsements.
Environment minister David Kemp will rubber-stamp the EIS, probably in late March. McGauran and Kemp have been challenged by the Campaign Against Nuclear Dumping to front for a public debate on the dump proposal in Adelaide on April 6.
The sham EIS process, and the federal government's scheming more generally, were described in a January 24 editorial in the Adelaide Advertiser as a "shameful process" and "an unequivocal kick in the teeth for us all and a heart-breaking defeat for democracy".
All but two or three of the 667 public submissions received in response to the draft EIS were opposed to the dump — an outcome McGauran blamed on "disinformation" from the South Australian Labor government and environmentalists. McGauran also claimed "growing support" for the dump, to which the Advertiser editorial responded: "You could have fooled South Australians."
The multinational PR firm Hill and Knowlton has been employed to carry out public relations work to sell the nuclear dump to South Australians. Hill and Knowlton has done some fine work protecting the interests of tobacco companies, asbestos companies, Enron and the International Olympic Committee, among others.
The supplement to the EIS adds no detail on a myriad of issues left unresolved in the draft EIS. Numerous "operational hazards" have been identified by the federal government but are dismissed with the assertion in the draft EIS that: "Appropriate procedures would be developed to address these issues." The draft EIS gave nothing more than an "indicative design" of the planned dump, and the supplement adds no detail whatsoever.
Nor have full details on the nature of the waste destined for the dump been released. The government describes the project as a "low-level" waste dump, but its definition of "low-level" waste includes short-lived intermediate-level waste. Moreover, the government plans to use the dump for a "very small" but unspecified amount of long-lived intermediate-level waste.
There are other surprises in the supplement to the EIS. Then science minister Nick Minchin said in a January 24, 2001, media release that the dump would have "a 50-year working life". In the supplement to the EIS, this has been upgraded to "at least 50 years", with no explanation of the bracket creep.
Even supporters of a dump have voiced strong opposition to aspects of the proposal. John Pattison, a lecturer in the School of Physics and Electronic Systems Engineering at the University of South Australia, voiced concern in his submission on the EIS. He expressed concern that a private contractor would pressure the government of the day to up-grade the dump from low-level waste to long-lived intermediate-level waste, to accept waste not just from Australia but also from overseas, and that a private contractor may not provide the necessary level of security.
The government has short-listed three sites near Woomera for the dump. Mining giant WMC Limited (formerly Western Mining) has no objection to a site within the Woomera Prohibited Area (WPA) being used, but it objects to the other short-listed sites because of possible disruption to its activities by protesters. WMC also wants a commitment from the government to fund programs to address negative perceptions caused by the location of the dump in the region.
If the government accommodates WMC by locating the dump within the WPA, it will be treading on the toes of powerful commercial and military interests involved in the commercial aerospace industry and weapons testing. The Australian Space Research Institute (ASRI), BAE Systems and the Northern Regional Development Board oppose the use of the short-listed site within the WPA.
In submissions on the draft EIS, ASRI and BAE Systems contested the government's risk assessment on several counts, such as the probability of a missile or rocket strike on the dump, the capability of the dump to withstand a strike, and the consequences for future activities if a strike were to occur.
On January 26, Eileen Kampakuta Brown was awarded an Order of Australia for services to the community through the preservation, revival and teaching of traditional Anangu (Aboriginal) culture and as an advocate for Indigenous communities in Central Australia. Mrs Brown was recognised as a woman of extensive traditional cultural knowledge — the very cultural knowledge that has informed her ten-year struggle against the federal government's proposal to dump radioactive waste in the South Australian desert.
Mrs Brown is a member of the Kupa Piti Kungka Tjuta women's group from Coober Pedy, a council comprising senior women from Kokatha, Antikarinya and Yankunytjatjara countries. The Kungka Tjuta women have fought the dump plan through their campaign called Irati Wanti: "the poison, leave it" (<http://www.iratiwanti.org>).
A January 28 statement from Irati Wanti said: "To the Kungka Tjuta the desert is not a 'remote' waste-land suitable for the storage of Australia's radioactive refuse. It is their home: intimately known, densely named and overlaid with stories, meanings, and histories. Furthermore, the desert is life-sustaining, supporting diverse plant and animal life through vast underground water sources."
To find out more about the dump or the Campaign Against Nuclear Dumping, phone Jim Green on (08) 8211 7604, email <jimgreen3@ozemail.com.au>, or visit <http://www.geocities.com/jimgreen3>.
From Green Left Weekly, February 5, 2003.
Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.