Kathy Newnam, Darwin
At a November 23 public forum, 50 people heard three Medical Association for the Prevention of War members challenge the myth that the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor in Sydney is necessary on medical grounds.
Dr Peter Tait told the meeting that it was waste from the Lucas Heights reactor that is behind the federal Coalition government's push for a nuclear waste dump in the Northern Territory. He said that $350 million has already been spent building the replacement reactor at Lucas Heights, "but they can't switch it on if they don't have anywhere to put the waste".
According to Associate Professor Lou Irving, it is possible to assure treatments that use radioactive isotopes without a nuclear reactor because cyclotrons can be used to produce the isotopes. He also described new medical technology that does not require radioactive isotopes and that is "at least as accurate".
Irving pointed out that Australia already imports 20% of its medical isotopes and, even without the development of alternative technology, could fill its requirement through imports, as do other countries including New Zealand and the UK. "We don't need 200 reactors to produce the world's isotopes", he said.
Irving dismissed the argument that a new reactor is necessary for medical research purposes, stating that Australia could be at the "cutting edge" of research into new technology. According to Tait, the money spent building the new Lucas Height reactor would have been better spent on building cyclotrons and developing new medical technology that does not require radioactive isotopes. He noted that at $3 million, the cost of building a cyclotron is relatively low and can produce medical isotopes without creating the high-level radioactive waste created by a reactor.
Dr Bill Williams talked about the principles of waste management, the first of which is waste reduction. We have to "turn off the tap, or at least turn it down", he said. Williams noted that the reprocessing of the highly radioactive spent fuel rods from the reactor (which currently takes place in France) extracts plutonium that can be used in nuclear power and nuclear weapons production.
Williams pointed out other waste management principles that are being ignored at Lucas Heights, including, "Don't cart it around if you don't have to". Tait said, "In 100 years we will have better ways of dealing with this stuff" and argued in favour of above-ground storage, where the waste is retrievable and everybody knows about it, rather than the "out of sight, out of mind" waste dump proposal. Above-ground storage also allows for constant monitoring for security and leaks.
Williams warned that the proposed waste dump could be the "thin edge of the wedge" because the nuclear industry faces a global problem of what to do with its high-level waste. He speculated that it may be in the back of the minds of "cowboy entrepreneurs" and governments to allow high-level waste into Australia.
Peter Robertson from the Environment Centre NT told the forum that the campaign against the dump is growing across the territory, with groups established in Katherine, Alice Springs and Darwin. He urged people to get involved, noting that it will be a long-term campaign because the government's research and licensing processes for the dump are scheduled to take at least six years.
For more information, visit <http://www.no-waste.org>.
From Green Left Weekly, November 30, 2005.
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