Reactor site … it could have been in your backyard: [1 Edition]
Stapleton, John. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 07 Mar 2001: 3.
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Abstract
“Release of information about alternative sites may unnecessarily alarm communities in the broad areas under consideration,” says the opening line of thereport. The sites identified as possible replacements for the ageing experimental nuclear reactor at Lucas Heights in Sydney’s south were Holsworthy, just kilometres to the west, the Mt Lofty Ranges east of Adelaide, Woomera, Broken Hill and an area south of Darwin. Also considered were areas outside Goulburn, north of Canberra; Mount Isa and Perth.
Full Text
FOUND: Eight possible sites for a new nuclear reactor on the outskirts of towns and cities across the country.
But don’t be surprised if you never knew it could be your backyard, because telling the communities involved would have caused unnecessary alarm, a cabinet report obtained under the Freedom of Information Act reveals.
“Release of information about alternative sites may unnecessarily alarm communities in the broad areas under consideration,” says the opening line of thereport. The sites identified as possible replacements for the ageing experimental nuclear reactor at Lucas Heights in Sydney’s south were Holsworthy, just kilometres to the west, the Mt Lofty Ranges east of Adelaide, Woomera, Broken Hill and an area south of Darwin. Also considered were areas outside Goulburn, north of Canberra; Mount Isa and Perth.
Most were dismissed as being subject to “urban encroachment”.
It cost the Sutherland Shire Council in Sydney more than $10,000 to unearth the report under FoI.
The head of the Prime Minister’s Department, Max Moore-Wilton, last week issued a certificate of exemption under the FoI Act. But the Government lost a battle with the Administrative Appeals Tribunal to keep the document secret. The Government is planning to build a new reactor at Lucas Heights at a cost of $276 million.
Calling for the Government to abandon its plans, the chair of Sutherland Shire Council’s nuclear reactor taskforce, Genevieve Rankin, said intervention from thePrime Minister’s Department showed the community was dealing with “1950s-style cold-war secrecy”.
“The Government is admitting in this document that Australia shouldn’t have a reactor close to a growing population.”
Reactions to the prospect of a possible nuclear reactor in the backyard varied. South Australian Environment Minister Iain Evans said: “We didn’t want thewaste from Lucas Heights, and we certainly don’t want the reactor.”
Mount Isa has little objection. Mayor Ron McCullough said: “We are a very pragmatic community and would appreciate the jobs.”
Federal Science Minister Nick Minchin dismissed the “secret report” as a “briefing document, one of many working documents prepared in the department”.