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MINISTER FOR RESOURCES AND ENERGY   SENATOR GARETH EVANS Q.C.

23 January 1986 3/86

BRITISH NUCLEAR TESTS IN AUSTRALIA

The Minister for Resources and Energy, Senator Gareth  Evans,  issued the following statement at a press conference  at Australia House in London yesterday:

'The first round in what is likely to be an extended series  of ministerial and official talks on the recommendations of  the Royal Commission into British Nuclear Tests in  Australia concluded satisfactorily here today.

'Satisfactory progress was made not only in identifying the  matters on which the Australian and UK Governments have,  at  this stage, differing views,  but - more importantly - on  establishing procedures and processes which may ultimately

enable those differences to be resolved.

'Following my talks with the Foreign Secretary, Sir  Geoffrey Howe, the Minister of State in the Foreign and  Commonwealth Office, Lady Young, and with the Minister of  State for Defence Procurement, Mr Norman Lament (who is

immediately responsible for this issue), agreement in  principle was reached on two major procedural issues.

'First, there was agreement to the Australian Government

establishing a Technical Assessment Group, (TAG), to

undertake field studies and laboratory research and report

in detail on options - and costs - for the radioactive and

toxic decontamination of the former British Atomic Test  Sites in Australia.  The group will consist of two  Australian Scientists, Mr D.R. Davy, Chief of the

Environmental Science Division of the Australian Atomic

Energy Commission

(Convenor) and Dr K.H. Lokan, Director of the Australian  Radiation Laboratory; a United States plutonium

decontamination expert,  Mr B.W. Church, Director of the  Health Physics Division, Nevada Operations Office,

Department of Energy; and two British experts to be

nominated by the UK Government.

'Second, there was agreement to the establishment of a  Consultative Group, consisting of representatives from the

Australian, South Australian and Western Australian  Governments, and Aboriginal interests to discuss and

monitor progress on the rehabilitation of the test sites.  The UK Government has accepted our Invitation to be  represented at meetings of this group. Neither the

Australian nor UK Government favoured the creation of a  formal "Marallnga Commission" of the kind recommended by  the Royal Commission, taking the view that the matters in  issue can only properly be resolved by direct  intergovernment negotiation.

'It was acknowledged that the most substantial of the  various problems identified by the Royal Commission that  remain to be resolved in discussions between the UK and  Australian Governments was the question of the nature and

extent of the further clean-up required at Marallnga, and  who should pay for it.

'The main elements in the Marallnga contamination problem,  and those with which the Australian Government is most  concerned, are:

.  The approximate 1.5kg of plutonium dispersed in up to  100,000 contaminated fragments at unacceptable  concentrations over a large land area, especially at the  Taranaki test site;

.  The approximate 20kg of plutonium burled amid a mass of

debris in over 20 burial pits at the Taranaki and TM101

sites, many of which pits are unsatisfactorily sealed;  and

.  The large quantities of uranium, and the toxic chemical  beryllium, dispersed over a significant land area at a

number of minor trial sites.

'The Australian Government's position, as put by me to the

UK Ministers, is that the statement in the original 1956  Memorandum of Arrangements relating to the Maralinga site

is still an appropriate description of both the legal and-  moral responsibility of the UK Government,  viz. that "The  UK Government accepts liability for such corrective

measures as may be practicable in the event of radioactive  contamination resulting from tests on the site".

'The UK Government's position, as stated to me, is that It  remains to be convinced - in the light of the clean-up of  the site which did take place in 1967 and the release  signed by the Australian Government the following year -  that it has either a legal or moral responsibility.

'Although some preliminary discussions have taken place on  these issues, both Governments have agreed that at this  stage the most constructive course would be to put to one  side the question of liability for clean-up costs and to  focus attention on what are in fact 'practicable' solutions

- in cost/benefit terms - to the remaining contamination  problems.

'The immediate need is for a full-scale scientific  evaluation of the measures needed, and the costs involved,  in order to achieve varying possible degrees of access to,

and habitation of the contaminated test sites.

- 4-

'This was recognised by the Royal Commission Itself:

"Various options for clean-up were considered but the Royal

Commission has not been able to make detailed  recommendations because insufficient data were tendered on

the levels of risk, options for clean-up and the associated  costs" (Conclusion 182).

'The UK Government has agreed to participate in the

required scientific evaluatiohs - to be carried out by the

Technical Assessment Group - on a completely "without  prejudice" basis, and the Australian Government has  willingly accepted this.

'When the Group produces its final report - identifying  with precision the costs and benefits involved in a series  of different clean-up options -:a firm foundation will have  been established on which further intergovernmental  discussion on the question of clean-up responsibilities can  proceed.

'It is proposed that the TAG produce an interim report in  May, which will also address specifically the question as  to whether one of the more obvious clean-up options - an  "Emu Parade" at Taranaki - might usefully proceed at an  early stage.

'It is not possible to say at this stage when the TAG'S  final report is likely to be completed, but the research  and evaluation required may take of the order of eighteen

months.

'While the TAG exercise is proceeding, it is envisaged that  communication on all the various matters raised in the  Royal Commission report about the conditions and future of  the test sites between the major interested parties - the  Australian, UK, South Australian and Western Australian

'Governments,  and Aboriginal interests - will be maintained

through meetings of the proposed Consultative Group.

'This week's Ministerial talks, like the officials' talks

which preceded them on 9-10 January in Canberra, took place  In an amicable and constructive atmosphere.'

* * * * *

Canberra

Contact Officer: A.A. Garran

(W) (062) 45 8793  (H) (062) 27 1651

