Maralinga

Wednesday, 15 Oct 2003.
Silence marks Maralinga test
A minute's silence has been held in Adelaide to mark the exact time when the
British tested their first nuclear bomb on mainland Australia 50 years ago.
Supporters of women affected by the blast also attended the service in
protest of a proposed low-level radioactive waste dump.
The women, from the Kupa Piti Kungka Tjuta, say the skies over South
Australia's remote north were filled with a dense black mist shortly after
the bomb exploded at Emu Junction at 11:00am AEST on this day in 1953. 
Some of the women are still said to be experiencing health problems caused
by the test.
They say today's anniversary should also bring to an end South Australia's
involvement in the nuclear industry, in particular a planned nuclear waste
dump for Woomera.
As well as holding a minute silence, supporters of the Kungka Tjutas are
also distributing 3,000 anniversary postcards throughout the state.

The secret of a British nuclear weapons program was broken with its first 25 kiloton bomb test on an old ship at the Monte-Bello Islands at the northwest coast of Australia (3 October 1952). Between 1952 and 1958, twelve atmospheric tests were conducted in or near the coast of Australia, most of them at the Maralinga test site. The Aboriginal inhabitants of this area were evacuated from their land, which is now contaminated with 25 kg of plutonium, 8 tons of uranium and 101 kg of highly toxic beryllium.

In 1993 the UK agreed to pay Australia 20 million pounds (as part of the costs) to clean up the Maralinga site. Earlier they had always said they were not liable to pay because they had already cleaned the area. In this 'clean-up', in 1967, they just plowed the waste into the sand. However, research showed that the contamination was worse than the UK had admitted. Australia will use the 20 million for clean-up and compensation for the local Aborigines. Actually, though, the total amount needed is estimated to be 65 million pounds.

[From <http://www.knooppunt.be/~fme/csr/uk.html>].

Pix of Aussie nuke tests 1952-63

Democrats demand explanation of Brit Govt's role in nuclear dump (from ABC radio, 22 Feb 1999)

The Democrats say reports of British Government involvement in a plan to establish a nuclear waste dump in outback Australia creates added suspicion about the scheme.

Media reports in London claim the Government-owned British Nuclear Fuels Limited is a major shareholder of the US-based company Pangea. Pangea has identified a site near the South and Western Australian borders for a large nuclear waste repository. Democrats Senator Andrew Bartlett is demanding the Federal Government explain if the British Government has made any effort to support the plan.

"It is very hard to believe that something with this much backing behind it wouldn't have already made some representations to the Australian Government," Senator Bartlett said.

"And the Democrats would think it appropriate that the Australian Government come clean on what sort of contacts there've been and more importantly what sort of message the Australian Government has given." A spokeswoman for Industry Minister Nick Minchin says no formal proposal has been put to the Government for a nuclear waste dump. She says it is not Government policy to import high-level nuclear waste, and there is no intention to change that position. The Prime Minister says he is not aware of any talks with Britain on the issue.

British Nuclear Testing in Australia

Table related to British nuclear weapons testing in Australia, and photos of some blasts.

British Nuclear Testing in Australia

More detailed presentation of above information at envirolink.org.

Summary of the Royal Commission into British Nuclear Testing in Australia

Bibliography

MARALINGA (Moginie/Garrett)

I come from a land of wide open spaces/ Where the world turns around us and we just follow suit/ There's heat in the air and peace reigns supreme/ Got white flags on the clothes lines and the deals are new...

COUNTRY STATUS REPORT: UNITED KINGDOM

The history and present status of the nuclear industry in the UK. Includes outline of weapons testing, nuclear waste, and the UK's anti-nukes movement.
[From For Mother Earth ].

Testimony: Archie Barton

Like at Bikini, when the Maralinga people returned to their land they found parts of them highly contaminated by radiation. The British government had detonated nine atomic bombs between 1953 and 1957 and, of greater impact, 700 "Minor Trials" which scattered over the Maralinga Land up to 25 kg of plutonium, 8,000 kg of natural uranium and up to 101 kg of beryllium, a highly toxic chemical.
[Extract from Poison Fire, Sacred Earth].

Test Site Clean-Up: The Maralinga Remediation Program

Between 1953 and 1963, the United Kingdom conducted several programs of nuclear warhead development trials in South Australia, mainly at the Maralinga Test Site. Rising public concern over these sites resulted in appointment in 1984 of a Royal Commission to investigate the legacy of nuclear warhead testing. In 1986, the Royal Commission reported that further cleanup was necessary at Maralinga. The Royal Commission recommended that a Maralinga Commission be established to determine cleanup criteria, oversee cleanup activities and coordinate all future test site management.

A RADIOACTIVE WASTE REPOSITORY FOR AUSTRALIA: Site Selection Study - Phase 2

The paper describes a methodology for assessing the relative suitability of all areas of Australia for near-surface disposal of radioactive waste. Assessments of suitability are made in accordance with the selection criteria outlined in the Code of Practice for the Near-surface Disposal of Radioactive Waste in Australia (NHMRC 1992). The purpose of this Code is to `provide a basis for the near-surface disposal of radioactive waste in a way which ensures that there is no unacceptable risk or detriment to humans, other biota or the environment, at present, and that future risks or detriment will not exceed those currently accepted.'

Maralinga

On the 18th February 1952 it was announced that the United Kingdom would explode an atomic weapon on Australian soil. Yami Lester, son of Kantji and Bingkayi, was about ten years old at the time of the black mist. He was living with his family at Wallatinna He recalled the morning he heard an explosion.
[From Komunik On-Line ].

Military Museums of London

On entering the Main Aircraft Hall of the Royal Air Force Museum, there's a production model of the flimsy Blriot XI, the type flown by Louis Blriot on July 25, 1909, in the first cross-channel flight. The main hall houses mostly fighters and experimental prototypes, such as the Supermarine Spitfire I and the Avro Rota, an autogyro design of the 1930s. In the adjacent Bomber Command Hall, there's a Boeing B-17G, the famous Flying Fortress, and Britain's version of the Enola Gay, a white Vickers Valiant that dropped the country's first atomic bomb in 1956 tests at Maralinga, Australia.

South Australia

Green, fertile land is confined to Adelaide and its northern outskirts, the Fleurieu Peninsula, and the Barossa and Clare valleys; the rest of the usable land in the state is utilised for wheat, barley or borderline grazing. Most of the northern half of the state is covered by the Great Victoria and Simpson deserts and the centre is occupied by the saline lakes of Eyre, Torrens, Frome and Gardiner. A large section of the state's centre is occupied by the prohibited area around Woomera, an experimental rocket launch site in the 1950s and 1960s. Atomic bomb tests conducted by the British at Maralinga in the 1950s have left similar no-go zones.

References in the pipeline

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