Posted on 06/14/2006 2:26:09 AM PDT by naturalman1975
RADIOACTIVE gases escaped after an accident at Australia's only nuclear reactor, days after Prime Minister John Howard announced his inquiry into nuclear power.
Secret emails made public by the Labor Party today show that last Thursday various gases, including krypton, escaped into the atmosphere at the Lucas Heights reactor in southern Sydney.
One staff member was forced to wash off contamination from the leak, and had to undergo a full body examination to ensure he was safe from radiation exposure.
The Government has played down the incident, but Labor deputy leader Jenny Macklin accused it of deliberately trying to hide the accident from the public.
She said the incident was just a forerunner to what the country might face if nuclear power was ever allowed.
"The local community deserves to be told what actually happened at the Lucas Heights reactor last Thursday, and why the release of radioactive gases was not made public," she said.
"Accidents like this show that the community is right to be concerned about the safety of nuclear reactors.
"This accident is a stark reminder that things can go wrong with nuclear reactors."
The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) said a pipe inside a radioactive hot cell had ruptured, halting the production of an isotope used in medical procedures.
"Only one worker was in the vicinity of the incident, but after examination he has been found not to have received any radiation dose," ANSTO spokesman Craig Pierce said.
Science Minister Julie Bishop assured Parliament no staff or community members had been injured in the accident.
"There has been no impact at all upon the health of workers at Lucas Heights or indeed the surrounding community and that the matter is under control," she said.
An email from Lucas Heights' chief of operations Ron Cameron backed up Ms Bishop's assertions.
"No radiation alarms went off, so there was no significant dose rate anywhere in the building," Mr Cameron wrote.
"Although some small amounts of contamination were found on the face of the hot cell, on the floor in front of the hot cell and in the office."
Ms Bishop said Labor was scaremongering in the face of a debate on nuclear energy in Australia.
"This is just a beat-up by Labor trying to deflect from the fact that we're having an open debate on nuclear power," Ms Bishop said.
The Australian Conservation Foundation's Don Henry said the accident was a reminder of the inherent risks of nuclear energy.
"This pipe rupture is just the latest in a pattern of accidents that have plagued every aspect of the nuclear cycle around the world – from uranium mining and enrichment to power generation, right through to the long-term management and storage of radioactive waste," Mr Henry said.
An investigation into the cause of the rupture was due to report in a couple of weeks.
The rupture occurred at a key stage in the production process of medical isotopes used in nuclear medicine scans of bones and organs.
Supply of medical isotopes to some hospitals and nuclear medicine practices will be disrupted for the next week.
Michael Priceman, a spokesman for the Sutherland Shire Environment Centre, later said the reactor had been scheduled to undergo hot cell upgrades several months ago.
"It was going to cost quite a lot of money and it was postponed," he said.
"If this is, in fact, what caused the accident, then they are not doing the right thing by their workers or by the community."
Mr Priceman called on ANSTO to come clean about the nature of the contamination.
"We are keen to know exactly what has happened. If the government does not know all the details they should find out and let locals and workers know."
What??...Ted Kennedy escaped Massachusetts?
Hmmm, a private thread. No comment by the OP NIMBY and a non-comment by the NEWBIE.
It's nowhere near my backyard - I live in another state. I happen to be fully in favour of nuclear power and nuclear research however, and wouldn't object to a nuclear reactor being located near my home.
I posted the thread as I know there are people here interested in the Lucas Heights HIFAR reactor, due to recent news reports that it is a terrorist target, and some people discussed if there was really any risk associated with such a relatively small reactor. The apparently minor nature of this accident is an indication in my view that the dangers of nuclear reactors are routinely exagerated and this news report contains examples of that itself. As I was posting it for information purposes, I felt no need to comment.
This reactor compared to a 1200 MW Power Reactor is like a BB Gun compared to a Daisy Cutter in terms of potential realease of radioactive material in the event of a worst case scenario.
FR is a conservative news *discussion* site (and I am not the Admin Mod, merely a long time habitue). DUmmies post disinformation without comment as trolls.
Perhaps if you linked to the thread indicating interest in HIFAR in particular or reators in general you might get more comment. The lack of comment...4 as I reply ... belies much interest.
You mean like TMI or Chernobyl? Both 'worst case' but with very different outcomes.
Oh, this is just hype
for the three hundred million
new Superman flick . . .
I've been here nearly two years now - not as long as you, but a fair while. In that time I have probably posted to hundreds of threads and I have no idea on earth how many comments I've written. I do comment when I consider something needs to be commented on. And the overall conservative nature of comments can be easily seen.
The biggest determinant of whether or not posts get replies seems to me, based on my experiences, to be based on the time of day they are posted. This thread was started in the small hours of the morning, US time, when most people on FR are asleep - such posts tend to get fewer comments.
I would have posted to the previous threads if I could have found them. But without recalling the headlines of those threads I couldn't. A search for HIFAR revealed nothing. A search for the phrase Lucas Heights revealed nothing.
There is a running count for you related to your homepage. I forget how to access it, but will try and get back here momentarily.
Go to 'home' and then to 'my account'. There is probably a quicker way.
Thanks - doing that, I find I've posted around 1700 times in a little under two years.
That's essentially zero. I would be embarrassed to post my number of posts, but I'm retired and don't have to account for my time anymore.
Three Mile Island was hardly a worst case scenario. Why, only one of the three primary deterrents to fission product release was breached.
I'm talking about a simultaneous terrorist attack, a mag 10 Earth Quake, a meteorite impact, and a pro-union benefits demonstration.
Not very plausible, that last bit...
the gases were last seen fleeing in an SUV.
And of Chernobyl?
Chernobyl was a worst case scenario of the political commissar insisting that an experiment to see how long a reactor can continue producing steam for electricity after it has tripped be continued as scheduled even though all his operators and scientists insist "Hey, senor, don't do it!"
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