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Uranium Mine Accident/Safety Breach in KaKaDu, Northern Territory
Yes I have put this up in big bold letters because this matter is very serious. A few years ago the government broke a promise that there would be no new Uranium mines opened in Australia. It seems as though they were thinking of the revenue, and not really much about our contribution to the Nuclear industry around the world, where we have dirty bombs and unstable governments with nuclear capability.
I was listening to Parliament question time, in the Senate and heard something very disturbing that occurred at this mine - Workers were contaminated by waste water, which had quite a high content of uranium waste, when the waste water was somehow hooked up to the drinking water. They were exposed to 400 times the safety limit in radiation permitted at this mine, and the problem was not detected for 12 hours. Workers complained about the taste of the water, and then began to feel sick. The mine was then shut down and evacuated, with a clean up taking place. According to the Senator asking questions, the mine has had more than 100 incidences of contamination occur, and they believe the mine should be shut down, and the company ERA should be fined heavily. Of course, the govt. is seeking legal advice, and won’t condemn the company for its safety breach.
You can read the news story here, it doesn’t quite say the same thing as what I heard in question time, which isn’t that surprising really.
What disturbs me, is that really the other 100 contamination breaches haven’t really made the news or public interest. Kakadu is a world heritage listed park, with a uranium mine in it. You would think that it is in the public interest to have this investigated thoroughly and perhaps have the mine closed.