Senator Kim Carr

Labor Senator for Victoria  Shadow Minister for Science & Research

7 March 2003

McGauran must come clean on the Maralinga “clean-up”

Evidence continues to mount today that the Commonwealth has botched the “clean-up”  of the Maralinga atomic testing site, according to Senator Kim Carr.

It is time for Science Minister Peter McGauran to come clean on the state of the former  British atomic test site and release the long-awaited report on the $106.7 million “clean-up”.

The issue returned to the spotlight today, with reports that United States expert Dale  M. Timmons branded the clean-up report on the former British atomic test site “incorrect”,  and containing “gross misinformation”.

Mr Timmons was commenting on a draft copy of the report obtained by the Australian  newspaper (page 2, March 7), ahead of its formal tabling in Parliament, due this month.

The report, conducted over the past five years by the Maralinga Technical Advisory  Committee, said the clean-up was a success, despite expert evidence that radioactive  waste was sitting in unlined pits and plutonium levels had been underestimated by 300%.

I have been asking questions about the clean-up and the report for close to a year, and  am convinced that corners have been cut.

It is clear from evidence given by nuclear engineer Alan Parkinson (a key advisor on the  clean-up process) that standards had been changed halfway through the clean-up, and  that is entirely unsatisfactory.

Evidence emerged in Senate Estimates hearings that cost-cutting had compromised the  clean-up process.

The committee heard that after an explosion, the clean-up process was radically altered,  with all 21 pits and the debris buried in a shallow grave, with waste less than 3 metres  from the surface. This was not “deep” burial as the report had described it, which required  waste to be 30 metres underground.

The Government’s nuclear-related programs, at Maralinga and Lucas Heights, are a mess.

There is no coherent national strategy for nuclear waste disposal.

Persistent denials there is a problem from Minister McGauran and his Department, as  well as attempts to denigrate expert witnesses, are not good enough.

The shonk and bluster from Minster McGauran lends weight to the view that there has  been a cover-up, and a pretty shallow one at that.

I call on him to release the report immediately.



Further info: Kim Carr 0419 563 922, Catriona Jackson 0410 522 262.

Electoral Office: 62 Lygon St CARLTON SOUTH 3053 Ph: 03 9639 2798 Fax: 03 9639 3109  Canberra Office: Parliament house CANBERRA ACT 2600 Ph: 02 6277 3730 Fax: 02 6277 5911  Email: senator.carr@aph.gov.au Toll Free Number: 1800 673 169

